[Federal Register: October 23, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 204)]
[
Notices]               
[Page 54804-54806]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23oc09-39]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY



[EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0054; FRL-8795-8]



 
Disulfoton; Registration Review Proposed Decision; Notice of 

Availability



AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).



ACTION: Notice.



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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's proposed 

registration review decision for the pesticide disulfoton and opens a 

public comment period on the proposed decision. 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, that the pesticide can perform its intended function without 

unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment. 

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 December 22, 2009.



ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 

(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0054, 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.



[[Page 54805]]



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 identification (ID) 

number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0054. 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 pesticide specific information, 

contact: Eric Miederhoff, Chemical Review Manager, Pesticide Re-

evaluation Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 347-8028; fax 

number: (703) 308-7070; e-mail address: miederhoff.eric@epa.gov.

    For general information on the registration review program, 

contact: Kevin Costello, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division (7508P), 

Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: 

(703) 305-5026; fax number: (703) 308-8090; e-mail address: 

costello.kevin@epa.gov.



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 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



A. What Action is the Agency Taking?



    Pursuant to 40 CFR 155.58, this notice announces the availability 

of EPA's proposed registration review decision for the pesticide, 

disulfoton, case number 0102, and opens a 60-day public comment period 

on the proposed decision. Disulfoton is an organophosphate insecticide 

registered for use on asparagus, beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, 

cabbage, cauliflower, cotton, coffee beans, lettuce, radish grown for 

seed, Christmas trees, Easter lilies, and residential ornamentals.

    The registration review docket for a pesticide includes earlier 

documents related to the registration review of the case. For example, 

the review opened with the posting of a Summary Document, containing a 

Preliminary Work Plan, for public comment. A Final Work Plan was posted 

to the docket following public comment on the initial docket.

    As stated in the Disulfton Preliminary Work Plan for registration 

review, the Agency had intended to revise the existing risk assessments 

for disulfoton. However, after the publication of the Disulfton 

Preliminary Work Plan, pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of the Federal 

Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, the 

Agency announced receipt of requests to voluntarily cancel all 

disulfoton product



[[Page 54806]]



registrations and then granted the voluntary cancellation requests, 

establishing effective cancellation dates (FRL-8437-1); (74 FR 48551) 

for all of the products registered for use in the United States 

containing the active ingredient, disulfoton. The Agency described the 

impact of the cancellations on the registration review of disulfoton in 

the Final Work Plan, which was issued on October 1, 2009. Due to the 

cancellation order issued affecting all disulfoton product 

registrations in the United States, the Agency has found that it is not 

necessary to conduct new risk assessments for disulfoton and is 

therefore issuing a proposed decision pursuant to 40 CFR 155.53(c)(2) 

and 40 CFR 155.58. The Agency believes that mitigation measures put 

into effect on product labeling through the reregistration process are 

adequate to protect human health and the environment until existing 

stocks of disulfoton are exhausted. This proposed registration review 

decision is described in more detail in the Disulfoton Proposed 

Registration Review Decision, available in the disulfoton docket.

    Following public comment, the Agency will issue a registration 

review final decision for products containing disulfoton.

    The registration review program is being conducted under 

congressionally mandated time frames, and EPA recognizes the need both 

to make timely decisions and to involve the public. Section 3(g) of 

FIFRA, as amended, required EPA to establish by regulation procedures 

for reviewing pesticide registrations, originally with a goal of 

reviewing each pesticide's registration every 15 years to ensure that a 

pesticide continues to meet the FIFRA standard for registration. The 

Agency's final rule to implement this program was issued in August 

2006, and became effective in October 2006, and appears at 40 CFR part 

155, subpart C. The Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2003 

(PRIA) was amended and extended in September 2007. FIFRA, as amended by 

PRIA in 2007, requires EPA to complete registration review decisions by 

October 1, 2022, for all pesticides registered as of October 1, 2007.

    The registration review final rule at 40 CFR 155.58(a) provides for 

a minimum 60-day public comment period on all proposed registration 

review decisions. This comment period is intended to provide an 

opportunity for public input and a mechanism for initiating any 

necessary amendments to the proposed decision. All comments should be 

submitted using the methods in ADDRESSES, and must be received by EPA 

on or before the closing date. These comments will become part of the 

docket for disulfoton. Comments received after the close of the comment 

period will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not required to consider these 

late comments.

    The Agency will carefully consider all comments received by the 

closing date and will provide a ``Response to Comments Memorandum'' in 

the docket. The registration review decision will explain the effect 

that any comments had on the decision and provide the Agency's response 

to significant comments.

    Background on the registration review program is provided at: 

http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/registration_review. A link to earlier 

documents related to the registration review of disulfoton is provided 

at: http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/registration_review/reg_review_

status.htm.



B. What is the Agency's Authority for Taking this Action?



    Section 3(g) of FIFRA and 40 CFR part 155, subpart C, provide 

authority for this action.



List of Subjects



    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 

Pesticides and pests, disulfoton.



    Dated: October 19, 2009.

Richard P. Keigwin, Jr.,

Director, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division, Office of Pesticide 

Programs.

[FR Doc. E9-25597 Filed 10-22-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-S