EPA Pesticide Registration and ESA Compliance

The Association of America Pesticide Control Officials State FIFRA Issues Research and Evaluation Group Full Committee will hold a 2-day meeting, beginning on December 7, 2015, and ending December 8, 2015.  The meeting will be held on Monday, December 7, 2015, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 8, 2015.

The following topics may be discussed at this SFIREG meeting:

1. Discussion of the Certification and Training (C&T) rule a. Soil fumigation category and its role in certification and training trends (state vs. federal vs. industry oversight)
2. Potential problems

EPA issued a proposed rule for comment in the Federal Register of August 24, 2015, concerning certification of applicators of restricted use pesticides. EPA has extended the comment period for 30 days, from November 23, 2015 to December 23, 2015.  EPA states that the comment period is being extended to provide additional time for commenters to prepare their responses.

Click here to read Federal Register notice of this action.

On November 6, 2015, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness filed comments opposing the Office of Health Assessment and Translation’s proposed review of the non-cancer human health effects of seven neonicotinoid pesticides. The seven neonics are:

CASRN 135410-20-7 or 160430-64-8 (acetamiprid), CASRN 210880-92-5 (clothianidin), CASRN 165252-70-0 (dinotefuran), CASRN 138261-41-3 OR 105827-78-9 (imidacloprid), CASRN 150824-47-8 (nitenpyram), CASRN 111988-49-9 (thiacloprid), and CASRN 153719-23-4 (thiamethoxam).

CRE’s comments came to the following conclusion:

“…OHAT review of the neonics would be wasted and duplicative and should not occur. OHAT has no standard regulatory structure, no means or experience to provide an open review, has not been transparent about the review nominations, and has no authority under FIFRA to regulate neonics. Based on this, the US Taxpayer should not fund two review organizations, one of which has no regulatory authority.”

On November 2, 2015, EPA published Federal Register notice of EPA’s final regulations revising protections provided to agricultural workers, pesticide handlers, and other persons under the Worker Protection Standard. This final rule is effective January 1, 2016. Agricultural employers and handler employers will be required to comply with most of the new requirements on January 2, 2017, as provided in 40 CFR 170.2. Agricultural employers and handler employers will be required to comply with certain new requirements on January 1, 2018 or later, as provided in 40 CFR 170.311(a)(3), 170.401(c)(3), 170.501(c)(3) and 170.505(b).

Click here to read EPA’s Federal Register notice.