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Pesticide News Story: Proposal to Revoke Certain Lindane Tolerances
On April 15, 2005, EPA published a proposal in the Federal Register to revoke certain tolerances for lindane because the registered uses that justified those tolerances have been voluntarily canceled. Since 1998, registrants have voluntarily requested to delete the use of lindane on a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. After allowing sufficient time for end users of lindane to exhaust existing stocks and for treated commodities to have cleared the channels of trade, EPA is proposing to revoke lindane tolerances for the following commodities: mushroom, nectarine, apricot, asparagus, avocado, eggplant, grape, guava, mango, pear, pecans, pepper, pineapple, quince, strawberry, tomato, plum and plum [prune, fresh], apple, cherry, peach, celery, collards, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, melon, okra, onion [dry bulb], pumpkin, squash, and squash [summer].
Additionally, EPA is proposing to amend the residue definition for lindane in order to harmonize with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) nomenclature. This will involve changing lindane nomenclature from gamma isomer of benzene hexachloride to gamma isomer of 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane.
Anyone may submit comments on this proposal, including those who have a need to continue the lindane tolerances that are subject to revocation. Please see the Federal Register notice for more information and instructions on how to submit comments, which is available at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2005/April/Day-15/p7634.htm. Comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number OPP-2004-0246, must be received on or before May 16, 2005. For additional information on this and other pesticides issues, see EPA’s Pesticide Program Web site at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/.