	

	UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

	WASHINGTON, D.C.  20460

                                                    OFFICE OF
PREVENTION, PESTICIDES AND TOXIC SUBSTANCES

	

April 23, 2009

MEMORANDUM

				

SUBJECT:	Updated Review of Pronamide Incident Reports		

FROM:	Monica Hawkins, M.P.H., Environmental Health Scientist

		Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch

		Health Effects Division (7509P)

		Jessie Cordova, Information Technology Specialist

		Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch

		Health Effect Division (7509P)		

		

THRU:	Mary Manibusan, Branch Chief

		Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch 

		Health Effects Division (7509P)

TO:		Tracy L. Perry, CRM

		Special Review and Reregistration Division (7508P)

BACKGROUND		

The OPP Incident Data System (IDS) was consulted for poisoning incident
data on the active ingredient pronamide.  The purpose of the database
search is to identify potential patterns on the extent and severity of
the health effects attributed to pronamide exposure.  The IDS includes
reports of incidents from various sources, including mandatory Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Section 6 (a) (2)
reports from registrants, other federal and state health and
environmental agencies and individual consumers.  The following
databases were not searched for poisoning incident data:  the American
Association of Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System
(TESS), the California Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program, and the
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s Sentinel Event
Notification System for Occupational Risks (NIOSH SENSOR).  The EPA is
supplying the following incident report to fulfill our requirement to
docket summaries of incident data that were reported to the Agency. 
This report represents 0 incidents occurring in the United States from
2002 to the present for the single chemical only.  

The OPP Incident Data System (IDS) is a database that includes reports
of incidents from various sources, including mandatory Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Section 6(a) (2)
reports from registrants, other federal and state health and
environmental agencies and individual consumers.  The IDS has been in
existence since 1992.  Reports submitted to the Incident Data System
represent anecdotal reports or allegations only, unless otherwise stated
in this report.  Typically, OPP does not draw conclusions implicating
the pesticide as a cause of any of the reported health effects. 
Nevertheless, sometime with enough cases and/or documentation, patterns
and risk mitigation measures may be suggested.

Incident information is mainly self-reported and therefore, generally
speaking, neither exposure to a pesticide or reported symptom (or the
connection between the two) is validated.  However, incident information
is an important feedback loop to the Agency – incidents of severe
outcome, or other clear patterns or trends can signal the Agency to
further investigate a particular chemical or product.

The evaluation of incident data for pronamide chemicals has reported
only 0 incidents. At this time, the current IDS incident data alone do
not support additional risk mitigation actions.



