[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43408-43410]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14737]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPP-2005-0024; FRL-7726-5]


DCPA; Order to Amend to Terminate Uses

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces amendments to terminate certain uses of 
products containing the pesticide DCPA, pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of 
the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as 
amended. This notice follows a February 16, 2005 Federal Register 
Notice of Receipt of Request from the DCPA registrant to voluntarily 
amend to terminate certain uses of their DCPA product registrations. 
These are not the last DCPA products registered for use in the United 
States. In the February 16 Notice, EPA indicated that it would issue an 
order implementing the amendments to terminate the subject uses, unless 
the Agency received substantive comments within the 30-day comment 
period that would merit its further review of the request. The Agency 
received three substantive comments on the Notice, two of which 
requested that several use sites proposed for termination be retained. 
EPA hereby issues in this notice an order to amend the subject 
registrations to terminate a subset of the uses initially requested for 
termination by the registrant. Any distribution, sale, or use of the 
DCPA products subject to this order is permitted only in accordance 
with the terms of this order, including any existing stocks provisions.

DATES: The use terminations are effective on July 31, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Bloom, Special Review and 
Reregistration Division (7508C), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8019; fax 
number: (703) 308-8041; e-mail address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 43409]]

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?

    1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
action under docket identification (ID) number OPP-2005-0024. The 
official public docket consists of the documents specifically 
referenced in this action, any public comments received, and other 
information related to this action. Although a part of the official 
docket, the public docket does not include Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. The official public docket is the collection of materials 
that is available for public viewing at the Public Information and 
Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB), Rm. 119, Crystal Mall 2, 
1801 S. Bell St., Arlington, VA. This docket facility is open from 8:30 
a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
docket telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
    2. Electronic access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the EPA Internet under the Federal Register 
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to view public comments, 
access the index listing of the contents of the official public docket, 
and to access those documents in the public docket that are available 
electronically. Although not all docket materials may be available 
electronically, you may still access any of the publicly available 
docket materials through the docket facility identified in Unit I.B.1. 
Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in the appropriate 
docket ID number.

II. What Action is the Agency Taking?

    This notice announces amendments to terminate uses of certain end-
use and manufacturing-use DCPA products registered under section 3 of 
FIFRA. These registrations are listed in sequence by registration 
number in Table 1 of this unit.

 Table 1--DCPA Product Registrations Affected by Amendment to Terminate
                                  Uses
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           EPA Registration No.                     Product Name
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5481[dash]485                               90% Dimethyl-T
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5481-486                                    Dacthal 1.92F
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5481-487                                    Dacthal Flowable Herbicide
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5481-488                                    Dacthal G-2.5 Herbicide
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5481-489                                    Dacthal G-5 Herbicide
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5481-490                                    Dacthal W-75 Herbicide
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5481-491                                    Dacthal W-75
------------------------------------------------------------------------
5481-495                                    Technical Chlorthal Dimethyl
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              Table 2.--Registrant of Subject DCPA Products
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              EPA Company No.                 Company Name and Address
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5481                                        Amvac Chemical Corporation
                                            4695 MacArthur Court
                                            Suite 1250
                                            Newport Beach, CA 92660
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The uses the registrant requested to delete from its product labels 
are: Alfalfa, arracacha, artichokes (Chinese and Jerusalem), beans, 
bean yam, beets, chestnuts (soil treatment and nursery stock), chufa, 
citron melon, cotton, crabapples (soil treatment and nursery stock), 
cucumber, edible canna, eggplant, garlic, ginger, kale, leren, peas, 
pepper, potatoes, residential uses (turf and ornamentals), squash 
(including pumpkin), sweet potatoes, tanier, turnips, walnuts (non-
bearing and nursery stock), and yam. Amvac requested termination of a 
number of DCPA uses in response to concerns about the contamination of 
ground water with DCPA and especially its metabolite 
tetrachloroterephthalic acid (TPA) which came to light when the 
tolerances for DCPA were being reassessed. Although the Agency was 
unable to identify a specific health risk associated with TPA, its 
prevalence and widespread detection in ground water were the basis of 
discussions with Amvac on the use deletions.

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

    During the public comment period, EPA received three comments in 
response to the February 16, 2005 Federal Register notice announcing 
the Agency's receipt of the request for amendments to terminate uses of 
DCPA. These comments are available on the public docket, and are 
summarized herein.
    The Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences 
(DPEPS) of the University of Hawaii submitted comments on the potential 
impact the loss of DCPA would have on the production of beans, bean yam 
(actually yam bean), beets, cucumber, eggplant, turnips, and especially 
sweet potatoes, in Hawaii. The commenters subsequently indicated that 
DCPA is not registered in Hawaii for use on beets or yam bean, and they 
withdrew their request that the turnip use be retained. In addition, 
they noted that alternatives to DCPA are available and used in the 
production of beans and cucumber. The commenters also noted that the 
combined acreage in Hawaii of crops on which DCPA is used in less than 
1,000 acres, so the potential for contamination of water sources with 
TPA is minimal.
    The Pesticide Specialist at Ratto Brothers, a large specialty 
vegetable grower in the Central Valley of California, commented on the 
need for the continued availability of DCPA in growing kale and 
turnips, due to limited alternatives and the costs of hand-labor 
weeding. He also noted that cultural practices have been implemented by 
Ratto Brothers' to decrease run-off and surface water contamination. 
Leafy greens and cole crops such as kale have been identified as a 
critical uses for DCPA in information the Agency had gathered from the 
States.
    Based on the comments of the University of Hawaii and Ratto 
Brothers, the Agency will allow Amvac to retain the uses for sweet 
potato, eggplant, kale, and turnip on the subject registrations. These 
uses, taken all together, represent less than 2% of total domestic 
agricultural usage of DCPA, and even less when turf and other 
residential uses are considered. Because no adverse health concerns 
have been identified for TPA, the Agency believes that the risks 
associated with TPA contamination of groundwater on the retained uses 
in Hawaii are probably negligible.
    Amvac, the registrant of the DCPA manufacturing- and end-use 
products, submitted comments on the disposition

[[Page 43410]]

of already-printed labels containing language allowing the use of DCPA 
on sites proposed for deletion. Amvac indicated that it had many such 
labels on hand, and if they could not be used after the effective date 
of cancellation, they would represent a signficant expense for Amvac. 
Amvac proposed that no new labels with the affected use sites would be 
printed after the effective date of use termination, but that Amvac 
would be allowed to use existing inventories of current labeling until 
supplies are exhausted. The approach suggested by Amvac is inconsistent 
with how cancellations are effected. When a registration is cancelled, 
production of the affected product must cease; likewise, when a use is 
terminated, production of the affected product labeled for that use 
must cease. The Agency cannot allow Amvac to utilize labels with the 
terminated uses after the effective date of use termination. However, 
in consideration of the time which has passed since the proposal was 
published and revisions to the list of use sites to be cancelled, the 
Agency will extend the effective date of use termination (proposed as 
April 1, 2005) until a date after publication of this notice. As is 
typical, the Agency will allow a period of time for clearance of 
products labeled for use on the terminated sites from the registrant's 
inventory.

IV. Use Termination Order

    Pursuant to FIFRA section 6(f), EPA hereby approves a subset of the 
use terminations originally requested by the registrant for the DCPA 
registrations identified in Table 1 of Unit II. Accordingly, the Agency 
orders that the DCPA product registrations identified in Table 1 of 
Unit II, are hereby amended to terminate the following uses: Alfalfa, 
arracacha, artichokes (Chinese and Jerusalem), beans, bean yam (yam 
bean), beets, chestnuts (soil treatment and nursery stock), chufa, 
citron melon, cotton, crabapples (soil treatment and nursery stock), 
cucumber, edible canna, garlic, ginger, leren, peas, pepper, potatoes, 
residential uses (turf and ornamentals), squash (including pumpkin), 
tanier, walnuts (non-bearing and nursery stock), and yam. 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 below in 
Unit VI. will be considered 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 Administrator may approve such 
a request.

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 or use termination action. The use termination order 
issued in this Notice includes the following existing stocks 
provisions.
    Amvac Chemical Corporation will be permitted to sell or distribute 
existing stocks of its products with EPA Registration Numbers as listed 
in Table I of Unit II, and bearing labels allowing uses including those 
uses which are the subject of the use termination order, through April 
1, 2007. Consistent with the effective date of the use terminations, 
these existing stocks are products bearing labels which include the 
uses being cancelled, but to which the labels were affixed prior to 
July 31, 2005 only.
    Sale, distribution, or use of these products bearing labels 
allowing uses which are the subject of the use termination order, by 
persons other than the registrant, may continue until supplies are 
exhausted, provided that such use is consistent with the terms of the 
previously approved labeling. Any use of existing stocks that is not 
consistent with such previously approved labeling is prohibited.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Pesticides and pests.

    Dated: July 15, 2005.
Debra Edwards,
Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of 
Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. 05-14737 Filed 7-26-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S