Product Cancellation Order for Certain Pesticide Registrations

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces EPA's order for the cancellations, voluntarily requested by the registrants and accepted by the Agency, of the products listed in Table 1 of Unit II., pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended. This cancellation order follows an August 25, 2010 Federal Register Notice of Receipt of Requests from the registrants listed in Table 2 of Unit II. to voluntarily cancel these product registrations. In the August 25, 2010 notice, EPA indicated that it would issue an order implementing the cancellations, unless the Agency received substantive comments within the 180-day comment period that would merit its further review of these requests, or unless the registrants withdrew their requests. The Agency received comments on the notice but these comments were exclusively on the public health mosquitocide uses. Consequently, the public health pesticide products containing resmethrin have been removed from this final cancellation order and will be addressed separately from other resmethrin products. Further, the registrants did not withdraw their requests. Accordingly, EPA hereby issues in this notice a cancellation order granting the requested cancellations. Any distribution, sale, or use of the products subject to this cancellation order is permitted only in accordance with the terms of this order, including any existing stocks provisions.

DATES:

The cancellations are effective June 1, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bonnie Adler, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8523; fax number: (703) 308-8090; e-mail address: adler.bonnie@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

This action is directed to the public in general, and may be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders including environmental, human health, and agricultural advocates; the chemical industry; pesticide users; and members of the public interested in the sale, distribution, or use of pesticides. Since others also may be interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

B. How can I get copies of this document and other related information?

EPA has established a docket for this action under docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0306. Publicly available docket materials are available either in the electronic docket at http://www.regulations.gov,, or, if only available in hard copy, at the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public Docket in Rm. S-4400, One Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. The hours of operation of this Docket Facility are from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket Facility telephone number is (703) 305-5805.

II. What action is the agency taking?

This notice announces the cancellation, as requested by registrants, of 121 products registered under FIFRA section 3. These registrations are listed in sequence by registration number in Table 1 of this unit.

Table 2 of this unit includes the names and addresses of record for all registrants of the products in Table 1 of this unit, in sequence by EPA company number. This number corresponds to the first part of the EPA registration numbers of the products listed in Table 1 of this unit.

III. Summary of Public Comments Received and Agency Response to Comments

The resmethrin docket was open for a 180-day comment period beginning on August 25, 2010. During that time, four comments were received on the Requests to Voluntarily Cancel Certain Pesticide Registrations. The comments were from two Florida counties, the IR-4 Project in New Jersey, and ADAPCO, a business that provides mosquito control products and equipment. The comments were exclusively on the public health uses of resmethrin and are summarized in this unit.

Comments on the Public Health Mosquitocide Use

1. Comments From the IR-4 Project. IR-4 commented that the number of pesticides available to control mosquitoes is limited, and that temephos is also being voluntarily cancelled at this time. They also commented that the Food Quality Protection Act created mechanisms to prevent public health pesticides from being driven off the market solely due to data needs. They point out that the proposed cancellation is voluntary, driven not by risk but rather by the small market and the high cost of data generation. Finally, IR-4 requests a 15-month moratorium on any regulatory action that would result in the loss of resmethrin or any other active ingredient defined as a public health pesticide by FQPA.

2. EPA Response. EPA is currently reviewing the data supporting resmethrin use as a public health pesticide. A separate Federal Register Notice (75 FR 28019, May 19, 2010) (FRL-8825-7), announced the receipt of requests to voluntarily cancel those resmethrin products registered for use in wide area mosquito abatement. A number of entities which commented on that notice are currently coordinating to develop a Pest Management Strategic Plan to support the continued registration of resmethrin for public health use. Consequently, certain public health pesticide products containing remethrin have been removed from this final cancellation order and will be addressed separately from other resmethrin products.

3. Comments From County Mosquito Districts. St. Lucie County and Manatee County both commented that the loss of mosquitocide vector control chemicals will result in increased public health risks due to mosquito-borne illnesses. Both pointed out that resmethrin is highly effective and has positive environmental attributes such as short-half life, no toxic metabolites, and minimal non-target impacts. St. Lucie County noted that resmethrin causes less allergic reaction in pesticide-sensitive individuals, and Manatee County maintained that resmethrin is one of few chemicals available for large scale Ultra Low Volume (ULV) adulticiding activities.

4. EPA Response. See previous response. EPA recognizes the importance of public health pesticides and is addressing resmethrin public health use products separately.

5. Comments From ADAPCO. ADAPCO commented on the danger of resistance development if more mosquitocide products are cancelled and operations are forced to depend on only a few options in chemistry. They noted that resmethrin can be used in environmentally sensitive areas against West Nile Virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and other vector-borne diseases, most often when efficacy is not achieved with cheaper formulations.

6. EPA Response. See previous response. EPA recognizes the importance of public health pesticides and is addressing resmethrin public health use products separately. Several resmethrin products included in the August 25, 2010 (75 FR 52330) (FRL-8838-8) Federal Register Notice, specifically the public health uses, have been removed from this final cancellation order and will be addressed separately as noted in this Unit above. The remaining products will thus be cancelled per this notice.

IV. Cancellation Order

Pursuant to FIFRA section 6(f), EPA hereby approves the requested cancellations of the registrations identified in Table 1 of Unit II. Accordingly, the Agency hereby orders that the product registrations identified in Table 1 of Unit II are canceled. The effective date of the cancellations that are subject of this notice is June 1, 2011. Any distribution, sale, or use of existing stocks of the products identified in Table 1 of Unit II. in a manner inconsistent with any of the provisions for disposition of existing stocks set forth in Unit VI. will be a violation of FIFRA.

V. What is the Agency's authority for taking this Action?

Section 6(f)(1) of FIFRA provides that a registrant of a pesticide product may at any time request that any of its pesticide registrations be canceled or amended to terminate one or more uses. FIFRA further provides that, before acting on the request, EPA must publish a notice of receipt of any such request in the Federal Register. Thereafter, following the public comment period, the EPA Administrator may approve such a request. The notice of receipt for this action was published for comment in the Federal Register of August 25, 2010. The comment period closed on February 22, 2011.

VI. Provisions for Disposition of Existing Stocks

Existing stocks are those stocks of registered pesticide products which are currently in the United States and which were packaged, labeled, and released for shipment prior to the effective date of the cancellation action. The existing stocks provisions for the products subject to this order are as follows.

The registrants may continue to sell and distribute existing stocks of products listed in Table 1 of Unit II. until December 31, 2012. Thereafter, the registrants are prohibited from selling or distributing products listed in Table 1, except for export in accordance with FIFRA section 17, or proper disposal. Persons other than the registrants may sell, distribute, or use existing stocks of products listed in Table 1 of Unit II. until existing stocks are exhausted, provided that such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms of the previously approved labeling on, or that accompanied, the canceled products.

List of Subjects

Environmental protection, Pesticides and pests.