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Ethephon; Tolerance Reassessment Decision for Low Risk Pesticide; Notice of Availability
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: June 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 124)]
[Notices]
[Page 36771-36773]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28jn06-74]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2004-0371; FRL-8073-1]
Ethephon; Tolerance Reassessment Decision for Low Risk Pesticide;
Notice of Availability
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's Tolerance
Reassessment Decision (TRED) for the pesticide ethephon, and opens a
public comment period on this document, related risk assessments, and
other support documents. EPA has reviewed this pesticide ethephon
through a modified, streamlined version of the public participation
process that the Agency uses to involve the public in developing
pesticide tolerance reassessment and reregistration decisions. Through
the tolerance reassessment program, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides
meet current health and food safety standards.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 28, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2004-0371, 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
Building), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA. Deliveries are only
accepted during the Docket'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 telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
Instructions: Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2004-0371. 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 Federal 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.
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
Building), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, 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 telephone number is (703)
305-5805.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wilhelmena Livingston, Special Review
and Reregistration Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8025 fax number:
(703) 308-8005; e-mail address: livingston.wilhelmena@epa.gov.
[[Page 36772]]
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. 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 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
A. What Action is the Agency Taking?
EPA has reassessed the uses of ethephon, reassessed 45 existing
tolerances or legal residue limits, and on June 15, 2006, reached a
tolerance reassessment decision for this pesticide. Ethephon (an
organophosphonate) is a plant growth regulator. It regulates phases of
plant growth and development by application at various growth stages
and sites. Ethephon is used to promote fruit ripening, abscission,
flower induction, breaking of apical dominance (inhibition of the
growth of lateral buds by the terminal bud of a shoot), and other plant
responses. Ethephon is registered on a number of terrestrial food,
feed, and nonfood crops, greenhouse nonfood crops, and outdoor plants.
The Agency is now issuing for comment the resulting Report on Food
Quality Protection Act (FQPA) Tolerance Reassessment and Risk
Management Decision for ethephon, known as a TRED, as well as related
risk assessments and technical support documents.
EPA developed the ethephon TRED through a modified, streamlined
version of its public process for making tolerance reassessment and
reregistration eligibility decisions. Through these programs, the
Agency is ensuring that pesticides meet current standards under the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) and the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended by
FQPA. EPA must review tolerances and tolerance exemptions that were in
effect when the FQPA was enacted, to ensure that these existing
pesticide residue limits for food and feed commodities meet the safety
standard established by the new law. Tolerances are considered
reassessed once the safety finding has been made or a revocation
occurs. EPA has reviewed and made the requisite safety finding for the
ethephon tolerances included in this notice.
EPA is applying the principles of public participation to all
pesticides undergoing reregistration and tolerance reassessment. The
Agency's Pesticide Tolerance Reassessment and Reregistration; Public
Participation Process, published in the Federal Register of May 14,
2004 (69 FR 26819) (FRL-7357-9) explains that in conducting these
programs, the Agency is tailoring its public participation process to
be commensurate with the level of risk, extent of use, complexity of
issues, and degree of public concern associated with each pesticide.
EPA can expeditiously reach decisions for pesticides like ethephon,
which pose no risk concerns and require no risk mitigation. Once EPA
assesses uses and risks for such pesticides, the Agency may go directly
to a decision and prepare a document summarizing its findings, such as
the ethephon TRED.
The tolerance reassessment program is being conducted under
Congressionally mandated time frames, and EPA recognizes the need both
to make timely decisions and to involve the public in finding ways to
effectively mitigate pesticide risks. Ethephon, however, poses no risks
that require mitigation. The Agency therefore is issuing the ethephon
TRED, its risk assessments, and related support documents
simultaneously for public comment. The comment period is intended to
provide an opportunity for public input and a mechanism for initiating
any necessary amendments to the TRED. 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 Agency
Docket for ethephon. Comments received after the close of the comment
period will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not required to consider these
late comments.
EPA will carefully consider all comments received by the closing
date. If any comment significantly affects the document, EPA also will
publish an amendment to the TRED in the Federal Register. In the
absence of substantive comments requiring changes, the decisions
reflected in the TRED will be implemented as presented.
B. What is the Agency's Authority for Taking this Action?
Section 408(q) of the FFDCA, 21 U.S.C. 346a(q), requires EPA to
review tolerances and exemptions for pesticide residues in effect as of
August 2, 1996, to determine whether the tolerance or exemption meets
the requirements of section 408(b)(2) or (c)(2) of FFDCA. This review
is to be completed by August 3, 2006.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Pesticides and pests.
[[Page 36773]]
Dated: June 20, 2006.
Debra Edwards,
Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of
Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. 06-5854 Filed 6-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S