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Malathion Risk Assessments Available for Comment
For Release: September 30, 2005
EPA is announcing the availability of its revised human health risk assessment and its ecological risk assessment for malathion, a cholinesterase-inhibiting organophosphate insecticide. Malathion is used on a variety of agricultural commodities, home ornamentals, vegetable gardens and lawns, and for wide area treatments such as public health mosquito control, fruit fly control, and boll weevil eradication programs. Malathion also is used as a head lice treatment. EPA's latest analysis of malathion toxicity data received since 2000 required changes to the Agency's human health risk assessment for that chemical. As the Federal Register announcement explains in more detail, the Agency is providing a 60-day comment period to solicit additional data and information from stakeholders and the general public to help refine the malathion risk assessment, as well as ideas or proposals to address the potential risks associated with registered uses of malathion.
Comments should reference docket number OPP-2004-0348 and must be received by the November 22, 2005, comment period closing date. Comments may be submitted online at the Federal Docket Management System at www.regulations.gov. For complete instructions on submitting comments by other means, please see the Federal Register notice at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2005/September/Day-23/p18705.htm.
In addition to looking at new data for malathion in this most recent assessment, EPA has also further characterized the potential risk from malaoxon, a more toxic compound that is formed when malathion residue is chemically converted under certain environmental conditions. EPA’s database for malaoxon is incomplete; therefore, the Agency has requested additional data on malaoxon in order to characterize this potential risk more definitively.
Links to the malathion Federal Register notice, risk assessments, and related documents are available online at http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/op/malathion.htm. For more information on malathion’s use in public health mosquito control, please see http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/mosquitoes/malathion4mosquitoes.htm. For information on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Boll Weevil Eradication Program, please see http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pdmp/cotton/bollweevil/updatedspring05.ppt.