[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67567-67569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-19748]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2003-0237; FRL-8102-9]


Methyl Parathion; Notice of Receipt of a Request to Voluntarily 
Amend Methyl Parathion Pesticide Registrations to Terminate Uses

AGENCY:  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:  Notice.

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SUMMARY:  In accordance with section 6(f)(1) of the Federal 
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, EPA is 
issuing a notice of receipt of a request by the registrant to 
voluntarily amend their registration to terminate some uses from the 
methyl parathion technical registration. The request would terminate 
methyl parathion use in or on cabbage, dried beans, dried peas, hops, 
lentils, pecans and sugar beets. The request would not terminate the 
last methyl parathion product registered for use in the U.S., but would 
terminate these uses on the only technical product. EPA intends to 
grant this request at the close of the comment period for this 
announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the 
comment period that would merit its further review of the request, or 
unless the registrant withdraws their request within this period. Upon 
acceptance of this request, any sale, distribution, or use of products 
listed in this notice will be permitted only if such sale, 
distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the 
final order.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 22, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2003-0237, by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public 
Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.
     Delivery: OPP Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), 
Environmental Protection Agency, Rm. S-4400, One Potomac Yard (South 
Building), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA. Deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation (8:30 a.m. to 4 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays). Special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. The 
Docket telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2003-0237. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the docket without change and may be made available on-line at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through regulations.gov or e-
mail. The Federal regulations.gov website is an ``anonymous access'' 
system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact 
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you 
send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through 
regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and 
included as part of the comment that is placed in the docket and made 
available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA 
recommends that you include your name and other contact information in 
the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA 
cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot 
contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your 
comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, 
any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the docket index. 
Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly 
available, e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted 
material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available 
only in hard copy form. 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 OPP 
Regulatory Public Docket in Rm. S-4400, One Potomac Yard (South 
Building), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, 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 telephone number is (703) 
305-5805.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John W. Pates, Jr., Special Review and 
Reregistration Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental

[[Page 67568]]

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: 703-308-8195; fax number: (703) 308-8005; e-
mail address: [email protected].

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. What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through 
regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly mark the part or all of the 
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or 
CD ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD ROM as 
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the 
specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one 
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as 
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information 
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket. 
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with 
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
    2. Tips for preparing your comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
    i. Identify the document by docket ID number and other identifying 
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
    ii. Follow directions. The Agency may ask you to respond to 
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
    iii. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and 
substitute language for your requested changes.
    iv. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information 
and/or data that you used.
    v. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you 
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
    vi. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns and 
suggest alternatives.
    vii. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of 
profanity or personal threats.
    viii. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

II. Background on the Receipt of Requests to Amend Registrations to 
Delete Uses

    This notice announces receipt by EPA of a request from the 
registrant Cheminova A/S to amend their registration to terminate some 
uses from the methyl parathion technical registration. Methyl parathion 
is an insecticide/miticide for use on various terrestrial food and feed 
crops to control many types of pests, including mites, thrips, weevils, 
aphids, and leafhoppers. In a letter dated October 11, 2006, Cheminova 
A/S requested EPA to amend the technical registration to terminate uses 
of the pesticide identified in this notice (Table 1). Specifically, the 
registrant has agreed to voluntarily cancel all use on cabbage, dried 
beans, dried peas, hops, lentils, pecans and sugar beets. The 
registrant's request will not terminate the last methyl parathion 
products registered in the United States, or the last pesticide 
products registered in the United States for these uses. This request 
will, however, remove these uses from the only technical methyl 
parathion registration. After this action is complete, a subsequent 
notice will be published to amend all end-use product registrations to 
remove these uses.

III. What Action is the Agency Taking?

    This notice announces receipt by EPA of a request from the 
registrant to amend to terminate certain uses of methyl parathion 
registrations. The affected registrations and the registrant making the 
request are identified in Tables 1 and 2 of this unit.
    Under section 6(f)(1)(A) of FIFRA, registrants may request, at any 
time, that their pesticide registrations be canceled or amended to 
terminate one or more pesticide uses. Section 6(f)(1)(B) of FIFRA 
requires that before acting on a request for voluntary cancellation, 
EPA must provide a 30-day public comment period on the request for 
voluntary cancellation or use termination. In addition, section 
6(f)(1)(C) of FIFRA requires that EPA provide a 180-day comment period 
on a request for voluntary cancellation or termination of any minor 
agricultural use before granting the request, unless:
    1. The registrants request a waiver of the comment period, or
    2. The Administrator determines that continued use of the pesticide 
would pose an unreasonable adverse effect on the environment.
     The methyl parathion registrant has requested that EPA waive the 
180-day comment period. EPA will provide a 30-day comment period on the 
proposed request.
    Unless a request is withdrawn by the registrant within 30 days of 
publication of this notice, or if the Agency determines that there are 
substantive comments that warrant further review of this request, an 
order will be issued amending the affected registrations.

              Table 1.--Methyl Parathion Product Registrations with Pending Requests for Amendment
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           Registration No.                  Product name               Company                 Use Sites
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4787-33                                Methyl Parathion         Cheminova A/S            Cabbage, dried beans,
                                        Technical                                         dried peas, hops,
                                                                                          lentils, pecans, and
                                                                                          sugar beets
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    Table 2 of this unit includes the name and address of record for 
the registrant of the registrations listed in Table 1 of this unit.

     Table 2.--Registrants Requesting Voluntary Cancellation and/or
                               Amendments
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              EPA Company No.                 Company name and address
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4787                                        Cheminova, A/S Suite 700
                                            Washington Office
                                            1600 Wilson Boulevard
                                            Suite 700
                                            Arlington, VA 22209
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IV. 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

[[Page 67569]]

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.

V. Procedures for Withdrawal of Request and Considerations for 
Reregistration of Methyl Parathion

    Registrants who choose to withdraw a request for cancellation must 
submit such withdrawal in writing to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, postmarked before December 22, 2006. This 
written withdrawal of the request for cancellation will apply only to 
the applicable FIFRA section 6(f)(1) request listed in this notice. If 
the products(s) have been subject to a previous cancellation action, 
the effective date of cancellation and all other provisions of any 
earlier cancellation action are controlling.

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. If the request for voluntary cancellation and/or 
use termination is granted as discussed above, the Agency intends to 
issue a cancellation order that will allow persons other than the 
registrant to continue to sell and/or use existing stocks of cancelled 
products until such stocks are exhausted, provided that such use is 
consistent with the terms of the previously approved labeling on, or 
that accompanied, the cancelled product. The order will specifically 
prohibit any use of existing stocks that is not consistent with such 
previously approved labeling. If, as the Agency currently intends, the 
final cancellation order contains the existing stocks provision just 
described, the order will be sent only to the affected registrants of 
the cancelled products. If the Agency determines that the final 
cancellation order should contain existing stocks provisions different 
than the ones just described, the Agency will publish the cancellation 
order in the Federal Register.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Pesticides and pests.

    Dated: November 8, 2006.
Debra Edwards,
Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of 
Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. E6-19748 Filed 11-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-507-S