[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 176 (Friday, September 11, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48729-48731]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-24337]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPP-00551; FRL-6027-7]


Initiation of Rodenticide Stakeholder Process and Availability of 
Zinc Phosphide and Rodenticide Cluster Reregistration Eligibility 
Decision Documents

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Initiation of rodenticide stakeholder process; Notice of 
availability of reregistration eligibility decision documents; Interest 
in State incident data.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of and starts a 60-day 
public

[[Page 48730]]

comment period for the Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) 
documents for the active ingredients brodifacoum, bromadiolone, 
bromethalin, chlorophacinone, diphacinone and its sodium salt, and 
pival and its sodium salt (Rodenticide Cluster) and zinc phosphide. The 
REDs for these chemicals are the Agency's formal regulatory assessments 
of the health and environmental data base of the subject chemicals and 
present the Agency's determination regarding which pesticidal uses are 
eligible for reregistration. This notice also announces the rodenticide 
stakeholder meetings and Agency interest in obtaining State incident 
data involving non-target and secondary poisoning to wildlife from 
rodenticides.
DATES: Written comments on the RED decisions must be submitted by 
November 10, 1998. The stakeholder meeting(s) are expected to be held 
in November or December, 1998. Anyone interested in serving on the 
stakeholder panel should notify the Agency of their interest by October 
13, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Three copies of comments identified with the docket control 
number (OPP-00551) and the case number (noted below), should be 
submitted to: By mail: Public Information and Records Integrity Branch, 
Information Resources and Services Division (7506C), Office of 
Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., 
Washington, DC 20460. In person, deliver comments to the docket on the 
first floor (Room 119), CM #2, 1921 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, 
VA.
    Comments and data may also be submitted electronically to: opp-
[email protected]. Follow the instructions under Unit III of this 
document. No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be 
submitted through e-mail.
    Information submitted as a comment concerning this document may be 
claimed confidential by marking any part or all of that information as 
CBI. Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance 
with procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2. A copy of the comment that 
does not contain CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public 
record. Information not marked confidential will be included in the 
public docket by EPA without prior notice. The public docket is 
available for public inspection in Rm. 119 at the Virginia address 
given above, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding 
legal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Technical questions on the RED 
documents listed below should be directed to the appropriate point-of-
contact:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Chemical Name              Case No       Point of Contact      Telephone No.        e-mail Address   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zinc phosphide....................         0026  Susan Jennings              703-308-7130  jennings.susan@epamai
l.epa.gov           
Brodifacoum.......................         2755  Dennis Deziel               703-308-8173  deziel.dennis@epamail
                                                                                            .epa.gov            
Bromadiolone......................         2760  Dennis Deziel               703-308-8173  deziel.dennis@epamail
                                                                                            .epa.gov            
Bromethalin.......................         2765  Dennis Deziel               703-308-8173  deziel.dennis@epamail
                                                                                            .epa.gov            
Chlorophacinone...................         2100  Dennis Deziel               703-308-8173  deziel.dennis@epamail
                                                                                            .epa.gov            
Diphacinone and its sodium salts..         2205  Dennis Deziel               703-308-8173  deziel.dennis@epamail
                                                                                            .epa.gov            
Pival and its sodium salts........         2810  Dennis Deziel               703-308-8173  deziel.dennis@epamail
                                                                                            .epa.gov            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For further information regarding the rodenticide stakeholder 
meeting contact either Susan Jennings or Dennis Deziel at the phone 
numbers listed above. For further information regarding the review of 
State incident data contact Dennis Deziel.
    To request a copy of any of the above listed RED documents, or a 
specific RED Fact Sheet, contact the OPP Pesticide Docket, Public 
Information and Records Integrity Branch, first floor (Room 119), at 
the address given above or call (703) 305-5805.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Electronic Availability

    Electronic copies of this document and the final PR Notice also are 
available from the EPA Home page at the Federal Register--Environmental 
Documents entry for this document under ``Laws and Regulations'' 
(http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/).
    Electronic copies of the REDs and RED fact sheets can also be 
downloaded from the Pesticide Reregistration Eligibility Decisions 
(REDs) home page at http://www.epa.gov/REDs.

II. Reregistration Decision

    The Agency has issued RED documents for the pesticidal active 
ingredients listed in the SUMMARY. Under the Federal Insecticide, 
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, as amended in 1988, EPA is conducting 
an accelerated reregistration program to reevaluate existing pesticides 
to make sure they meet current scientific and regulatory standards. The 
data base to support the reregistration of each of the chemicals, 
except for pival and its sodium salts, is substantially complete. Due 
to a lack of data, pival and its sodium salts are ineligible for 
reregistration.
    All registrants of products containing one or more of the active 
ingredients have been sent the appropriate RED documents and must 
respond to labeling requirements and product specific data requirements 
(if applicable) within 8 months of receipt. Products containing other 
active ingredients will not be reregistered until those other active 
ingredients are determined to be eligible for reregistration.
    The reregistration program is being conducted under congressionally 
mandated timeframes, and EPA recognizes both the need to make timely 
reregistration decisions and to involve the public. Therefore, EPA is 
issuing these REDs as final documents with a 60-day comment period. 
Although the 60-day public comment period does not affect the 
registrants' response due date, it is intended to provide an 
opportunity for public input and a mechanism for initiating any 
necessary amendments to the RED. All comments will be carefully 
considered by the Agency.

III. National Rodenticide Stakeholder Meeting(s)

    The Agency is concerned about accidental poisonings of young 
children by rodenticide products. Data collected by the American 
Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) for 1995 showed 
approximately 15,000 exposures to children younger than 6 years. Of the 
total number of human exposures to rodenticides in 1995, almost 6,500 
were significant enough to result in treatment at a health care 
facility.
    During the RED process, the Agency investigated several regulatory 
measures that could mitigate these risks, but

[[Page 48731]]

wanted to ensure that any adopted measures were consistent with public 
health values and priorities. Therefore, the Agency is initiating a 
rodenticide stakeholder process to develop a risk mitigation strategy 
to protect young children from rodenticide products while preserving 
the public health benefits of these products. The stakeholder process 
will consist of one or more meetings that will be open to the public. A 
core group of individuals or representatives from organizations will 
serve on a panel to discuss and analyze several mitigation proposals, 
ultimately concluding with recommendations to the Agency on how to 
further mitigate risks to young children from rodenticide poisonings. 
Panel members will represent a broad cross-section of the public and 
will be expected to attend all of the stakeholder meetings.
    The first of the stakeholder meetings is expected to be held 
sometime in November or December 1998, in Washington, DC. The Agency is 
hopeful that 2-3 separate full-day panel meetings will be sufficient to 
resolve these issues, however, it recognizes that several more meetings 
may be warranted. EPA will announce the dates and times of the meetings 
in a subsequent Federal Register notice. The stakeholder process will 
also discuss issues that may pertain to other rodenticide products, 
such as those which contain warafin, red squill, difethialone, 
cholecalciferol/Vitamin D-3, difethialone, and possibly registrations 
of new rodenticide active ingredients. Anyone interested in these 
products may also attend. The Agency welcomes proposals for mitigation 
techniques and invites anyone who might be interested in serving on the 
panel to please contact Susan Jennings or Dennis Deziel at the 
addresses or phone numbers under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT within 
30 days of the date of this notice.

IV. Reviewing Wildlife Incident Data

    The Agency recently became aware of incident data suggesting that 
there may be a potential problem involving accidental non-target and 
secondary exposures to wildlife from the rodenticides subject to this 
notice of availability. At this time, the Agency is reviewing available 
data; no final conclusions have been reached. After a complete review, 
if a problem or pattern is detected, the Agency may impose additional 
restrictions on the use of any rodenticide products involved. The 
Agency is directed by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to coordinate its actions with states. In this 
vein, the Agency will be reviewing, and would be interested in 
receiving, State wildlife incident data for all rodenticides to better 
understand the extent of this potential problem.

V. Public Record and Electronic Submissions

    The official record for this notice, as well as the public version, 
has been established for this notice under docket control number (OPP-
00551) (including comments and data submitted electronically as 
described below). A public version of this record, including printed, 
paper versions of electronic comments, which does not include any 
information claimed as CBI, is available for inspection from 8:30 a.m. 
to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
official record is located at the Virginia address in ``ADDRESSES'' at 
the beginning of this document.
    Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at:
    [email protected]

    Electronic comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the 
use of special characters and any form of encryption. Comment and data 
will also be accepted on disks in Wordperfect 5.1/6.1 file formats or 
ASCII file format. All comments and data in electronic form must be 
identified by the docket control number (OPP-00551). Electronic 
comments on this notice may be filed online at many Federal Depository 
Libraries.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection.


    Dated: September 3, 1998.

Jack E. Housenger,

Acting Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of 
Pesticide Programs.

[FR Doc. 98-24337 Filed 9-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F