[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 158 (Tuesday, August 18, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53412-53414]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-16838]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2026-5679; FRL-13538-01-OCSPP]
Nominations to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP); Request for
Comments
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is now
accepting public comments on the experts the Agency is considering for
membership on the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP). This document identifies the
individuals nominated. The Agency anticipates selecting from those
nominees that are identified as interested and available to appoint two
new SAP members by October 2026 due to expiring membership terms.
Public comments on these nominations will be used to assist the Agency
in selecting the new members for the FIFRA SAP.
DATES: Submit your comments on or before September 8, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket identification (ID)
number EPA-HQ-OPP-2026-5679, online 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: The Designated Federal Officer (DFO)
is Tamue L. Gibson; Regulatory and Information Services Division
(7602M), Office of Mission Critical Operations, Office of Chemical
Safety and Pollution Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency;
telephone number: (202) 564-7642; 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. It may be of
particular interest to persons who are interested in the impact of
pesticide regulatory actions on health and the environment and
pesticide-related issues in general. The Agency has not attempted to
describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action.
If you have any questions, consult the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
B. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI
Do not submit CBI information to EPA through email or https://www.regulations.gov. If your comment contains any information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected, please contact the DFO
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT to obtain special
instructions before submitting your comments. Information properly
marked as CBI will not be disclosed except in accordance with the
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
2. Commenting on EPA Dockets
When preparing and submitting your comments, see Commenting on EPA
Dockets at https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
[[Page 53413]]
C. What action is the Agency taking?
This document solicits public comment on the experts recently
nominated to serve on the FIFRA SAP (see Unit III.D.2.). The Agency
anticipates selecting from these nominations to appoint two new SAP
members by October 2026 due to expiring membership terms. Public
comments on these recent nominations will be used to assist the Agency
in selecting the new members for the FIFRA SAP.
D. What is the Agency's authority for taking this action?
The FIFRA SAP is a federal advisory committee, established in 1975
under FIFRA (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.), that operates in accordance with
requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C.
10). In accordance with FACA requirements, a Charter for the FIFRA SAP,
dated June 15, 2026, provides for open meetings with opportunities for
public participation.
II. Background
The FIFRA SAP serves as a scientific peer review mechanism of EPA's
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) and is
structured to provide independent scientific advice, information, and
recommendations to the EPA Administrator on pesticides and pesticide-
related issues as to the impact of regulatory actions on health and the
environment. The FIFRA SAP is composed of a permanent panel consisting
of seven members who are appointed by the EPA Administrator from
nominees provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the
National Science Foundation (NSF). Members serve staggered terms of
appointment, generally of three to six years duration. To augment the
knowledge-base of the FIFRA SAP, FIFRA required that EPA establish a
Science Review Board consisting of at least 60 scientists who are
available to the FIFRA SAP on an ad hoc basis to assist in reviews
conducted by the FIFRA SAP.
As a scientific peer review mechanism, the FIFRA SAP provides
comments, evaluations, and recommendations to improve the effectiveness
and quality of analyses made by Agency scientists.
III. Nominees
A. Qualifications of Members
Members are scientists who have sufficient professional
qualifications, including training and experience, to provide expert
comments on the impact of pesticides on human health and the
environment. In accordance with FIFRA section 25(d)(1), the
Administrator shall require nominees to the FIFRA SAP to furnish
information concerning their professional qualifications, including
educational background, employment history, and scientific
publications. No persons shall be ineligible to serve on the FIFRA SAP
by reason of their membership on any other advisory committee to a
federal department or agency, or their employment by a federal
department or agency (except EPA). FIFRA section 25(d) further
stipulates that the Agency publish the name, address, and professional
affiliation of the nominees in the Federal Register.
B. Applicability of Existing Regulations
Consistent with the requirements of FIFRA section 25(d), FIFRA SAP
members are subject to the provisions of the Standards of Ethical
Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch at 5 CFR part 2635,
conflict of interest statutes in Title 18 of the United States Code,
and related regulations. Before being formally appointed, each
candidate is required to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure
Form in which they must fully disclose, among other financial
interests, the nominee's sources of research support, if any. EPA will
evaluate the candidate's financial disclosure forms to assess the
possibility of financial conflicts of interest, appearance of a loss of
impartially, or any prior involvement with the development of documents
likely to be under consideration by the FIFRA SAP (including previous
scientific peer reviews) before the candidate is considered further.
C. Process of Obtaining Nominees
In accordance with the provisions of FIFRA section 25(d), on April
15, 2026, EPA requested that the NIH and the NSF nominate scientists to
fill vacancies occurring on the FIFRA SAP. The Agency requested
nominations of nationally recognized experts in the fields of
ecological and human exposure assessment, including environmental fate
and transport of chemicals; new approach methodologies, including in
vitro to in vivo extrapolation. Experts with specific experience in
risk assessment, dose-response analysis, cheminformatics,
bioinformatics, and genomics are preferred.
D. Nominated Individuals
NIH and NSF provided the Agency with a total of 28 nominees, of
which, 16 are interested and available to actively participate in FIFRA
SAP meetings (see Unit III.D.2.), and 12 individuals are not available
to be considered further for membership at this time (see Unit
III.D.1.). In addition to the list of nominees provided in this
document, a compilation of brief biographical sketches, including
information about the qualifications of the individual nominees, is
available in the public docket identified under ADDRESSES.
1. Nominees That Are Not Available
The following individuals are not available to be considered
further for membership at this time (listed alphabetically):
1. Steven Belmain, Ph.D., University of Greenwich, Greenwich,
London.
2. Mark Cubeta, Ph.D., North Carolina State University, Raleigh,
North Carolina.
3. Thomas Hartung, MD, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
Maryland.*
4. Eunha Hoh, Ph.D., San Diego State University, San Diego,
California.*
5. Lifang Hou, MD, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
6. Pamela Lein, Ph.D., University of California-Davis, Davis,
California.
7. Charles Mitchell, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, North Carolina.
8. Richard Ostfeld, Ph.D., Carey Institute, Millbrook, New York.
9. Michael Parsons, Ph.D., Fordham University, Bronx, New York.
10. Lina Quesda-Ocampo, Ph.D., North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, North Carolina.
11. Brian J. Reich, Ph.D., North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, North Carolina.
12. Elaine Sunderland, Ph.D., Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
* Note: FIFRA SAP charter members Drs. Hartung and Hoh cannot be
considered further for the current membership cycle.
2. Nominees That Are Interested and Available
The following individuals are interested and available experts that
the Agency is considering for membership on the FIFRA SAP (listed
alphabetically). Selected biographical data for each nominee is
available in the docket identified under ADDRESSES and through the
FIFRA SAP website at https://www.epa.gov/sap. Following the completion
of the required ethics reviews, the Agency anticipates selecting new
members by October 2026 to fill upcoming vacancies occurring on the
Panel.
1. Diana S. Aga, Ph.D., University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.
[[Page 53414]]
2. Antonio T. Baines, Ph.D., North Carolina Central University,
Durham, North Carolina.
3. Michelle C. Cora, DVM, National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina.
4. Megan M. Dewdney, Ph.D., University of Florida, Lake Alfred,
Florida.
5. Lauren M. Diepenbrock, Ph.D., University of Florida, Lake
Alfred, Florida.
6. Rebecca C. Fry, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, North Carolina.
7. James J. Galligan, Ph.D., University of Arizona, Tucson,
Arizona.
8. Kurunthachalam Kannan, Ph.D., University at Albany, Albany, New
York.
9. Bo Li, Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.
10. Carrie McDonough, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania.
11. Irfan Rahma, Ph.D., University of Rochester Medical Center,
Rochester, New York.
12. Nors F. Savage, Ph.D., United States National Science
Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia.
13. Elizabeth J. Skellam, Ph.D., University of North Texas, Denton,
Texas.
14. Marin Talbot Brewer, Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens,
Georgia.
15. Kyla Welch Taylor, Ph.D., National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina.
16. Wei Zheng, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Champaign, Illinois.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 136 et. seq.; 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.; 5 U.S.C.
10.
Dated: August 14, 2026.
Douglas M. Troutman,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2026-16838 Filed 8-17-26; 8:45 am]
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