[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 132 (Tuesday, July 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41310-41312]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-14795]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0490; FRL-9966-01-OCSPP]


Petition To Revoke Tolerances and Cancel Registrations for 
Certain Organophosphate Uses; Notice of Filing

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: EPA is seeking public comment on a November 18, 2021 petition 
filed by the United Farm Workers, United Farm Workers Foundation, 
Earthjustice, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Farmworker 
Association of Florida, Farmworker Justice, GreenLatinos, Labor Council 
for Latin American Advancement, League of United Latin American 
Citizens, Learning Disabilities Association of America, Pesticide 
Action Network North America, and Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del 
Noroeste (the Earthjustice Petition). The petitioners request that the 
Agency revoke all tolerances and cancel all associated registrations 
for food uses of

[[Page 41311]]

the following organophosphate pesticides (OPs): Acephate, Densulide, 
Chlorethoxyfos, Chlorpyrifos-methyl, Diazinon, Dichlorvos, Dicrotophos, 
Dimethoate, Ethoprop, Malathion, Naled, Phorate, Phosmet, Terbufos, and 
Tribufos. In addition, the petitioners request that the Agency take 
actions to protect workers from potential risks of exposure to OPs, 
update its risk assessments to include a protective regulatory endpoint 
for children, and complete registration review on the OP class of 
chemicals by October 1, 2022. The petition was submitted pursuant to 
the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), the Administrative 
Procedure Act (APA), and the First Amendment.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 11, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0490, through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at https://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. Additional 
instructions on commenting and visiting the docket, along with more 
information about dockets generally, is available at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna Romanovsky, Pesticide Re-
Evaluation Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, 
DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 566-2271; 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. The following list of North American Industrial 
Classification System (NAICS) codes is not intended to be exhaustive, 
but rather provides a guide to help readers determine whether this 
document applies to them. Potentially affected entities may include:
     Crop production (NAICS code 111).
     Animal production (NAICS code 112).
     Food manufacturing (NAICS code 311).
     Pesticide manufacturing (NAICS code 32532).

B. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit CBI 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 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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets#tips.
    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.

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

    A copy of the Earthjustice Petition, Petition to Revoke Food 
Tolerances and Cancel Registrations for Harmful Organophosphate Uses, 
is available in the docket under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0490.

II. What action is the Agency taking?

    EPA seeks public comment during the next 30 days on a petition 
dated November 18, 2021 (available in docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-
0490 at https://www.regulations.gov) from the United Farm Workers, 
United Farm Workers Foundation, Earthjustice, California Rural Legal 
Assistance Foundation, Farmworker Association of Florida, Farmworker 
Justice, GreenLatinos, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, 
League of United Latin American Citizens, Learning Disabilities 
Association of America, Pesticide Action Network North America, and 
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste. The petitioners request that 
the Agency revoke all tolerances and cancel all associated 
registrations for food uses of OPs that its risk assessments determine 
to be unsafe, update its risk assessments to use neurodevelopmental 
toxicity instead of 10% red blood cell acetylcholinesterase inhibition 
as a regulatory endpoint that is protective for children, and cancel 
registrations for uses that have unreasonable adverse effects on 
workers. The petitioners further request that the Agency accomplish the 
foregoing no later than October 1, 2022. The petition was submitted 
pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), 21 U.S.C. 
346a(d), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq., 
and the First Amendment.
    The OPs are a group of pesticides with a broad range of uses and 
are one of the most widely used class of pesticides in U.S. 
agriculture. The OPs are a class of chemicals with a common mechanism 
of toxicity: inhibition of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme. 
There are currently 20 OPs going through registration review. EPA's 
risk assessments and other registration review materials for the OPs 
included in the Earthjustice Petition are contained in the dockets for 
each of the respective registration review cases, as listed here:
     Acephate (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0915).
     Bensulide (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0022).
     Chlorethoxyfos (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0843).
     Chlorpyrifos-methyl (EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0119).
     Diazinon (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0351).
     Dichlorvos (EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0209).
     Dicrotophos (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0440).
     Dimethoate (EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0059).
     Ethoprop (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0560).
     Malathion (EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0317).
     Naled (EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0053).
     Phorate (EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0674).
     Phosmet (EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0316).

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     Terbufos (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0119).
     Tribufos (EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0883).
    On December 2, 2021, the Agency released an updated schedule for 
registration review for the cases for which interim registration review 
decisions will be issued after October 2022. The schedule can be found 
on the EPA website at https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-reevaluation/upcoming-registration-review-actions.
    Authority: 21 U.S.C. 346a.

    Dated: July 6, 2022.
Mary Reaves,
Director, Pesticide Re-Evaluation Division, Office of Pesticide 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2022-14795 Filed 7-11-22; 8:45 am]
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