[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 59 (Wednesday, March 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18590-18591]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07074]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0191; FRL-9380-4]


Organic Arsenicals; Amendments to Terminate Uses; Amendment to 
Existing Stocks Provisions

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: EPA issued a document in the Federal Register of September 30, 
2009 (74 FR 50187) (FRL-8437-7) concerning the cancellations and 
amendments of pesticide products containing organic arsenicals. A 
portion of the voluntary cancellation request giving rise to the 2009 
document was conditioned upon the convening of a public scientific peer 
review process that would address the mode of action for carcinogenic 
effects of inorganic arsenic. Because the peer review process has not 
yet occurred, the cancellations of the sod farm, golf course, and 
highway rights-of-way uses identified in the 2009 document were 
improperly finalized, and the existing stocks provisions for all 
remaining products containing the organic arsenical monosodium 
methanearsonate (MSMA) will be corrected as noted in Unit II. of this 
document. In addition, this document clarifies that existing stocks of 
products already in the hands of users as of December 31, 2010, 
containing MSMA labeled for all uses, except cotton, sod farms, golf 
courses, and highway rights-of-way and products containing disodium 
methanearsonate (DSMA), calcium acid methanearsonate (CAMA), and 
cacodylic acid and its sodium salt, can be used legally until they are 
exhausted, provided that such use complies with the EPA-approved label 
and labeling accompanying the affected product.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Myers, Pesticide Re-evaluation 
Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8589; email 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.

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

    The docket for this action, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0191, is available at http://www.regulations.gov or at the Office of Pesticide Programs Regulatory 
Public Docket (OPP Docket) in the Environmental Protection Agency 
Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West Bldg., Rm. 3334, 1301 Constitution 
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001. The Public Reading Room is open 
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal 
holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 
566-1744, and the telephone number for the OPP Docket is (703) 305-
5805. Please review the visitor instructions and additional information 
about the docket available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.

II. Background

    The voluntary cancellation request identified in the 2009 document 
(74 FR 50187) was based upon a negotiated Agreement in Principle to 
Implement the Organic Arsenicals Reregistration Eligibility Decision 
dated January 16, 2009. Under that Agreement, certain uses were to be 
cancelled unconditionally, while others were subject to future 
cancellation conditionally. The products that were cancelled 
unconditionally in the 2009 document were MSMA labeled for residential; 
forestry; non-bearing fruit and nuts; citrus, bearing and non-bearing; 
bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass grown for seed; drainage ditch banks; 
railroad, pipeline, and utility rights-of-way; fence rows; storage 
yards; and similar non-crop areas and all products containing DSMA, 
CAMA, cacodylic acid and its sodium salt. Regarding the golf course, 
sod farms, and highway rights-of-way uses, paragraph 3 of that 
agreement provided that EPA would convene a public meeting of either 
the Agency's Scientific Advisory Board, the Scientific Advisory Panel, 
or both to evaluate any new data on the mode of action of inorganic 
arsenicals, and paragraph 6 of the agreement provided that, before the 
cancellations of golf course, sod farms, and highway rights-of-way uses 
of MSMA would take effect, EPA would make a written determination 
whether EPA believes that the science on the mode of action has changed 
sufficiently to warrant the continued registration of those uses. Thus, 
a portion of the cancellation request and existing stocks provision of 
the 2009 document were conditioned upon the timely completion of the 
peer review process and EPA's written determination thereto.
    In light of a Congressional directive to have the National Academy 
of Sciences (NAS) look at the mode of action for carcinogenic effects 
by inorganic arsenic, EPA and the arsenic registrants recently agreed 
to modify paragraph 3 of the agreement to include the NAS as a third 
potential peer review body, one of which must hold a public meeting on 
the mode of action before the last use cancellations can be finalized. 
It is EPA's current intention to rely on the NAS for the peer review of 
the mode of action issue although EPA retains the right to utilize 
either of the Agency's scientific peer review bodies if it later 
determines that would be more appropriate. The NAS final report is 
currently scheduled to be completed in late 2015. See the letter from 
Richard P. Keigwin Jr., Director, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division, to 
Lynn Bergeson on behalf of the Organic Arsenical Products Task Force 
dated September 14, 2012 regarding the modification to paragraph 3 of 
Agreement in Principle, located in docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0191.
    In the cancellation order of the 2009 document registrants would 
have been prohibited from selling and distributing products containing 
MSMA for use on sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way 
after December 31, 2012. Persons other than registrants would have been 
prohibited from selling and distributing products containing MSMA for 
use on sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way after June 
30, 2013, and after December 31, 2013 use of products containing MSMA 
labeled for all uses, except cotton would have been prohibited. All of 
those prohibitions were predicated, among other things, upon the 
convening of a scientific peer review to evaluate the mode of action of 
inorganic arsenicals, and the agreement contained a provision delaying 
the effective date of cancellation (and the related existing stocks 
provision) until such time as the Agency provides a written 
determination regarding the peer review

[[Page 18591]]

evaluation. Because that peer review process has not yet occurred, the 
related cancellations can not yet be finalized.
    Pursuant to the agreement, a number of registrants amended their 
registrations to require the addition of label statements identifying 
December 31, 2013 as the last date the product could be used legally on 
sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way. In light of the 
fact, as discussed in this Unit, that the cancellations of products 
registered for use on sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-
way did not become effective in 2009, and that these uses remain 
registered, registrants have submitted labels removing the restrictive 
statement prohibiting use of the product on sod farms, golf courses, 
and highway rights-of-way after December 31, 2013. All products with 
labels that include the prohibitive language must be used according to 
their labels. EPA intends to issue a new cancellation order when and if 
cancellation of these uses is proper under the terms of the agreement.
    Finally, as to the uses that were cancelled in the 2009 document 
without regard to the conduct of a peer review of the mode of action of 
inorganic arsenicals, EPA is clarifying that existing stocks of 
products in users' hands as of December 31, 2010, containing MSMA 
labeled for residential; forestry; non-bearing fruit and nuts; citrus, 
bearing and non-bearing; bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass grown for seed; 
drainage ditch banks; railroad, pipeline, and utility rights-of-way; 
fence rows; storage yards; and similar non-crop areas and products 
containing DSMA, CAMA, cacodylic acid and its sodium salt, can be used 
legally until they are exhausted, provided that such use complies with 
the EPA-approved label and labeling accompanying the affected product. 
This was the intent of the original order, but some language in the 
order may have suggested incorrectly that such use of existing stocks 
would be terminated after December 31, 2013.

III. What does this document do?

    In light of the fact that a portion of the cancellation was 
improperly finalized, EPA is issuing this document to alert 
registrants, users, and others that the cancellation of products 
registered for use on sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-
way in the 2009 document is not effective, and that the order and 
existing stocks provision did not go into effect on September 30, 2009. 
That portion of the cancellation order will not be proper until EPA has 
addressed in writing the recommendations of a peer review panel 
pursuant to paragraph 6 of the Agreement in Principle. When and if that 
portion of the voluntary cancellation becomes effective, persons other 
than registrants will have at least six additional months to sell and 
distribute existing stocks of the cancelled product, and users will 
have at least one additional year to use existing stocks of cancelled 
product (provided use is consistent with the previously-approved 
labeling of the particular product in the users' hands).
    In addition, EPA is clarifying that existing stocks of products in 
users' hands as of December 31, 2010, containing MSMA labeled for 
residential; forestry; non-bearing fruit and nuts; citrus, bearing and 
non-bearing; bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass grown for seed; drainage 
ditch banks; railroad, pipeline, and utility rights-of-way; fence rows; 
storage yards; and similar non-crop areas and products containing DSMA, 
CAMA, cacodylic acid and its sodium salt, can be used legally until 
they are exhausted, provided that such use complies with the EPA-
approved label and labeling accompanying the affected product.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, MSMA, organic arsenicals, pesticides.

    Dated: March 19, 2013.
Richard P. Keigwin Jr.,
Director, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division, Office of Pesticide 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2013-07074 Filed 3-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P