[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 130 (Wednesday, July 8, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39107-39109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16422]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2015-0386; FRL-9929-23]


Registration Review; Draft Human Health and Ecological Risk 
Assessments; Notice of Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's draft human 
health and ecological risk assessments for the registration reviews of 
flufenacet, flurprimidol, propoxur, and sodium acifluorfen, and opens a 
public comment period on these documents. In addition, this notice 
announces both the opening of the registration review docket for 
thidiazuron and the availability of the registration review draft human 
health and ecological risk assessments for thidiazuron. The Agency is 
opening a public comment period on both the Preliminary Work Plan and 
the draft risk assessments for thidiazuron. Through this program, EPA 
is ensuring that each pesticide's registration is based on current 
scientific and other knowledge, including its effects on human health 
and the environment.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 8, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number for the specific pesticide of interest provided in Table 1 
of Unit III, by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit 
electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute.
     Mail: OPP Docket, Environmental Protection Agency Docket 
Center (EPA/DC), (28221T), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 
20460-0001.
     Hand Delivery: To make special arrangements for hand 
delivery or delivery of boxed information, please follow the 
instructions at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/contacts.html.
    Additional instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along 
with more information about dockets generally, is available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For pesticide specific information 
contact the Chemical Review Manager listed as the contact in Table 1 of 
Unit III.
    For general questions on the registration review program, contact: 
Richard Dumas, Pesticide Re-Evaluation Division (7508P), Office of 
Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8015; 
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, farm worker, 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 Chemical Review Manager for the case in question, listed in 
Table 1 of Unit III of this notice.

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 email. 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

[[Page 39108]]

will not be disclosed except in accordance with procedures set forth in 
40 CFR part 2.
    2. Tips for preparing your comments. When preparing and submitting 
your comments, see the commenting tips at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/comments.html.
    3. Environmental justice. EPA seeks to achieve environmental 
justice, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of any group, 
including minority and/or low income populations, in the development, 
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and 
policies. To help address potential environmental justice issues, the 
Agency seeks information on any groups or segments of the population 
who, as a result of their location, cultural practices, or other 
factors, may have atypical or disproportionately high and adverse human 
health impacts or environmental effects from exposure to the pesticides 
discussed in this document, compared to the general population.

II. Authority

    Registration review is EPA's periodic review of pesticide 
registrations to ensure that each pesticide continues to satisfy the 
statutory standard for registration, that is, the pesticide can perform 
its intended function without unreasonable adverse effects on human 
health or the environment. As part of the registration review process, 
the Agency has completed comprehensive draft human health and 
ecological risk assessments, including, in some cases, a screening 
level endangered species assessment, for all uses of these pesticides. 
After reviewing comments received during the public comment period, EPA 
may issue revised risk assessments, explain any changes to the draft 
risk assessments, respond to comments, and request public input on risk 
mitigation before completing proposed registration review decisions for 
flufenacet, flurprimidol, propoxur, sodium acifluorfen, and 
thidiazuron.
    EPA is conducting its registration review of the pesticide cases 
listed in Table 1 of Unit III. of this notice pursuant to section 3(g) 
of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and 
the Procedural Regulations for Registration Review at 40 CFR part 155, 
subpart C. Section 3(g) of FIFRA provides, among other things, that the 
registrations of pesticides are to be reviewed every 15 years. Under 
FIFRA, a pesticide product may be registered or remain registered only 
if it meets the statutory standard for registration given in FIFRA 
section 3(c)(5) (7 U.S.C. 136a(c)(5)). When used in accordance with 
widespread and commonly recognized practice, the pesticide product must 
perform its intended function without unreasonable adverse effects on 
the environment; that is, without any unreasonable risk to man or the 
environment, or human dietary risks of concern from residues that 
result from the use of a pesticide in or on food.

III. Registration Reviews

    As directed by FIFRA section 3(g), EPA is reviewing the pesticide 
registrations for the pesticides listed in Table 1 of this Unit to 
ensure that each pesticide on the list continues to satisfy the FIFRA 
standard for registration--that is, that these pesticides can still be 
used without unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the 
environment.

 Table 1--Draft Risk Assessments Being Made Available for Public Comment
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Chemical review
  Registration review case name                           manager and
             and No.                 Docket ID No.          contact
                                                          information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flufenacet, 7245................  EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-08  Margaret Hathaway,
                                   63.                 [email protected], 703-305-
                                                       5076.
Flurprimidol, 7000..............  EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-06  Kelly Ballard,
                                   30.                 [email protected], 703-305-
                                                       8126.
Propoxur, 2555..................  EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-08  Brittany Pruitt,
                                   06.                 [email protected], 703-347-
                                                       0289.
Sodium acifluorfen, 2605........  EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-01  Christina
                                   35.                 Scheltema,
                                                       [email protected], 703-
                                                       308-2201.
Thidiazuron, 4092...............  EPA-HQ-OPP-2015-03  Khue Nguyen,
                                   81.                 [email protected], 703-347-0248.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Flufenacet. Draft Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments 
(EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0863). Flufenacet is a pre-emergent, anilide herbicide 
registered for use on wheat, perennial grasses grown for seed, corn for 
silage, field and sweet corn, soybeans, and triticale. There are no 
registered residential uses of flufenacet. EPA has completed draft 
human health and ecological risk assessments, including a screening-
level listed species assessment, for all flufenacet uses. EPA 
acknowledges that further refinements to the listed species assessment 
will be completed in future revisions and requests public comment on 
specific areas that will reduce the uncertainties associated with the 
characterization of risk to listed species identified in the current 
assessment.
    Flurprimidol. Draft Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments 
(EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0630). Flurprimidol is a plant growth regulator 
belonging to the pyrimidine class. It is registered for use on golf 
courses and ornamental turf; for landscape/woody ornamental plants and 
ornamental trees; and for ornamental plants grown in containers in 
nurseries, greenhouses, and shadehouses. EPA conducted a comprehensive 
human health risk assessment and did not identify any risks of concern 
for dietary, residential, or occupational exposures. EPA also conducted 
a screening level ecological risk assessment that addressed only the 
tree injection use of flurprimidol. Potential risks to birds, mammals, 
and plants were identified. All other uses of flurprimidol were 
addressed in a 2010 ecological risk assessment, which is posted to the 
registration review docket. An endangered species assessment has not 
been completed for flurprimidol at this time.
    Propoxur. Draft Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments (EPA-
HQ-OPP-2009-0806). Propoxur is a carbamate insecticide registered for 
use by pest control operators to kill a variety of insects including 
crickets, ants, cockroaches, and silverfish. It is registered for use 
in and around residential, industrial, institutional, and commercial 
facilities (including food handling establishments and food processing 
plants). EPA has completed draft human health and ecological risk 
assessments, including a screening-level listed species assessment for 
all propoxur uses. EPA acknowledges that

[[Page 39109]]

further refinements to the listed species assessment will be completed 
in future revisions and requests public comment on specific areas that 
will reduce the uncertainties associated with the characterization of 
risk to listed species identified in the current assessment.
    Sodium acifluorfen. Draft Human Health and Ecological Risk 
Assessments (EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0135). Sodium acifluorfen is a post-
emergent herbicide registered for use on peanuts, soybeans, 
strawberries, and rice. EPA has completed draft human health and 
ecological risk assessments for all sodium acifluorfen uses. There are 
no anticipated human health risks of concern. The draft ecological risk 
assessment indicates that there is direct risk of adverse effects to 
non-target organisms, including fish, birds, and mammals, and species 
for which these taxa serve as surrogates, and non-target terrestrial 
plants. The assessment did not find risks of concern for aquatic 
plants.
    Thidiazuron. Combined Docket Opening and Release of Draft Human 
Health and Ecological Risk Assessments (EPA-HQ-OPP-2015-0381). 
Thidiazuron is a plant growth regulator registered for use as a 
defoliant on cotton. There are no non-agricultural uses of thidiazuron. 
EPA has completed a combined problem formulation/preliminary ecological 
risk assessment and combined scoping document/preliminary human health 
risk assessment for thidiazuron. No human health risks of concern were 
identified. The ecological risk assessment indicated potential risks of 
concern to birds, terrestrial-phase amphibians, reptiles, and 
terrestrial plants. The Agency did not complete an endangered species 
risk assessment.
    Pursuant to 40 CFR 155.53(c), EPA is providing an opportunity, 
through this notice of availability, for interested parties to provide 
comments and input concerning the Agency's draft human health and 
ecological risk assessments for these pesticides. Such comments could 
address, among other things, the Agency's risk assessment methodologies 
and assumptions, as applied to these draft risk assessments. The Agency 
will consider all comments received during the public comment period 
and make changes, as appropriate, to the draft human health and 
ecological risk assessments. EPA may then issue revised risk 
assessments, explain any changes to the draft risk assessments, and 
respond to comments. In the Federal Register notice announcing the 
availability of any such revised risk assessments for these pesticides, 
if the revised risk assessments indicate risks of concern, the Agency 
may provide a comment period for the public to submit suggestions for 
mitigating the risks identified in the revised risk assessments before 
developing a proposed registration review decision on the affected 
pesticide.
    1. Other related information. Additional information on the 
individual pesticides discussed in this notice is available through the 
Pesticide Registration Review Status Web page, at http://www2.epa.gov/pesticide-reevaluation/individual-pesticides-registration-review. 
Information on the Agency's registration review program and its 
implementing regulation is available at http://www2.epa.gov/pesticide-reevaluation.
    2. Information submission requirements. Anyone may submit data or 
information in response to this document. To be considered during a 
pesticide's registration review, the submitted data or information must 
meet the following requirements:
     To ensure that EPA will consider data or information 
submitted, interested persons must submit the data or information 
during the comment period. The Agency may, at its discretion, consider 
data or information submitted at a later date.
     The data or information submitted must be presented in a 
legible and useable form. For example, an English translation must 
accompany any material that is not in English and a written transcript 
must accompany any information submitted as an audiographic or 
videographic record. Written material may be submitted in paper or 
electronic form.
     Submitters must clearly identify the source of any 
submitted data or information.
     Submitters may request the Agency to reconsider data or 
information that the Agency rejected in a previous review. However, 
submitters must explain why they believe the Agency should reconsider 
the data or information in the pesticide's registration review.
    As provided in 40 CFR 155.58, the registration review docket for 
each pesticide case will remain publicly accessible through the 
duration of the registration review process; that is, until all actions 
required in the final decision on the registration review case have 
been completed.

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.

    Dated: June 22, 2015.
Richard P. Keigwin, Jr.,
Director, Pesticide Re-Evaluation Division, Office of Pesticide 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2015-16422 Filed 7-7-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P