[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 107 (Friday, June 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27035-27036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13160]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0356; FRL-8420-2]
Petition Requesting Cancellation of all Tetrachlorvinphos Pet
Uses and Extension of Comment Period for Petition Requesting
Cancellation of Propoxur Pet Collar Uses; Notice of Availability
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: On April 24, 2009, the Agency received a petition from the
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to cancel all pet uses for the
pesticide tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) and a supplement to a previous NRDC
petition to cancel all pet collar uses for the pesticide propoxur. NRDC
requested these cancellations based on their belief that EPA failed to
adequately assess residential exposures to TCVP and propoxur pet
collars. NRDC believes that EPA used incorrect exposure assumptions
leading to underestimation of residential risk in the TCVP
Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED), Propoxur RED, and N-methyl
Carbamate (NMC) Cumulative Risk Assessment (CRA). On April 8, 2009, the
Agency opened a 60-day public comment period for the petition to cancel
propoxur pet collar uses, originally scheduled to close June 8, 2009.
This notice extends the comment period on the propoxur petition to
correspond with the timing of the TCVP comment period.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 4, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments for TCVP, identified by docket
identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0308, and for propoxur,
identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0207, 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
Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. Deliveries are only
accepted during the Docket Facility'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 Facility telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
Instructions: Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2009-0308 for TCVP or to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0207 for
propoxur. 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 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
available at http://www.regulations.gov. 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 Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., 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 Facility telephone
number is (703) 305-5805.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For TCVP: James Parker, Special Review
and Reregistration Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 306-0469; fax
number: (703) 308-7070; e-mail address: [email protected].
For Propoxur: Monica Wait, Special Review and Reregistration
Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (703) 347-8019; fax number: (703) 308-7070; 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 and
human health advocates; the chemical industry; pesticide users; pet
owners; 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
[[Page 27036]]
appropriate 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
The Agency has opened a 60-day comment period for an NRDC petition
requesting the cancellation of all tetrachlorvinphos pet uses. The
petition was filed on April 24, 2009, and NRDC claims that the Agency
did not include the TCVP pet collar use pattern, which is the worst
case exposure scenario, and that the Agency used assumptions which
underestimated exposures when conducting the risk assessment in support
of the 2002 Tetrachlorvinphos RED.
On April 24, 2009, NRDC also submitted a supplement to their
previous petition to cancel all pet collar uses for propoxur, which
provided some additional information on the pesticide. The original
NRDC petition, submitted November 2007, was recently posted for a 60-
day public comment period under docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0207
through a notice of availability published in the Federal Register
issue of April 8, 2009 (74 FR 15980)(FRL-8408-4). The public comment
period for that docket was previously scheduled to close on June 8,
2009. However, this Federal Register notice will extend the public
comment period for that docket to 60-days from the publication of this
notice. Note that for propoxur, pet collars are currently the only
products registered for use on pets. There are no other types of pet
products, such as spot-ons, sprays, or shampoos, registered for use on
pets. Therefore, NRDC's petition to cancel applies only to propoxur pet
collar uses.
In both the TCVP and propoxur petitions, NRDC claims that
residential exposures may be significantly higher than estimated by EPA
through common daily activities between children and pets. NRDC also
cites specific revised hand-to-mouth exposure scenarios from published
studies which they feel should have been included in the TCVP and
propoxur exposure assessments.
NRDC conducted a study designed to estimate exposure to TCVP and
propoxur from flea collars. A summary of the study was submitted in an
issue paper along with the petition to cancel pet uses of TCVP and
propoxur. The Agency has requested that NRDC provide additional
information regarding the study. The Agency's letter requesting
information and NRDC's response will be included in both the TCVP and
the propoxur dockets.
EPA's 2002 Interim Tolerance Eligibility and Reregistration
Eligibility Decision (RED) documents for tetrachlorvinphos are
available on EPA's pesticide webpage at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm.
EPA's 1997 Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for propoxur
is available on EPA's pesticide webpage at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm.
The 2007 NMC CRA, related documents and comments are available in
the electronic docket at http://www.regulations.gov under docket ID
number EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0935.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Natural Resources Defense Council,
Pesticides and pests, Propoxur, Tetrachlorvinphos.
Dated: May 29, 2009.
Richard P. Keigwin, Jr.,
Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of
Pesticide Program.
[FR Doc. E9-13160 Filed 6-4-09; 8:45 am]
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