Pesticide News Story: EPA Announces Pesticide Public Participation Process
In a Federal Register notice published on May 14, EPA announced its public
participation process for the pesticide tolerance reassessment and reregistration
programs. Based on a pilot developed for the organophosphate pesticides, the Agency's
public participation process provides consistent, defined, and predictable opportunities
for public and stakeholder involvement through public comment periods on EPA's risk
assessments, risk management options, and risk management decisions, as needed.
The process also encourages informal consultation between the Agency and stakeholders
starting early and continuing throughout. Recognizing that all pesticides do not present
the same degree of risk or complexity of issues, the Agency has included options for
conducting a full six-phase process, a modified four-phase process, or a streamlined
low-risk process, as appropriate. These options give EPA the flexibility to tailor
its public participation process to the uses and risks of each pesticide and to obtain
public input as needed while still making timely decisions and meeting statutory
deadlines and program goals. The Federal Register notice is available at
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2004/May/Day-14/p10985.htm. Further information including a link to the schedule for public participation opportunities is available on EPA’s Web site at
http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/public.htm.
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