
[Federal Register: June 5, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 107)]
[Notices]               
[Page 27035-27036]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05jn09-56]                         

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0356; FRL-8420-2]

 
Petition Requesting Cancellation of all Tetrachlorvinphos Pet 
Uses and Extension of Comment Period for Petition Requesting 
Cancellation of Propoxur Pet Collar Uses; Notice of Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY:  On April 24, 2009, the Agency received a petition from the 
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to cancel all pet uses for the 
pesticide tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) and a supplement to a previous NRDC 
petition to cancel all pet collar uses for the pesticide propoxur. NRDC 
requested these cancellations based on their belief that EPA failed to 
adequately assess residential exposures to TCVP and propoxur pet 
collars. NRDC believes that EPA used incorrect exposure assumptions 
leading to underestimation of residential risk in the TCVP 
Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED), Propoxur RED, and N-methyl 
Carbamate (NMC) Cumulative Risk Assessment (CRA). On April 8, 2009, the 
Agency opened a 60-day public comment period for the petition to cancel 
propoxur pet collar uses, originally scheduled to close June 8, 2009. 
This notice extends the comment period on the propoxur petition to 
correspond with the timing of the TCVP comment period.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 4, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments for TCVP, identified by docket 
identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0308, and for propoxur, 
identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0207, 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 
Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. Deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket Facility'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 Facility telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2009-0308 for TCVP or to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0207 for 
propoxur. 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 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 
available at http://www.regulations.gov. 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 Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., 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 Facility telephone 
number is (703) 305-5805.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For TCVP: James Parker, Special Review 
and Reregistration Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 306-0469; fax 
number: (703) 308-7070; e-mail address: parker.james@epa.gov.
    For Propoxur: Monica Wait, Special Review and Reregistration 
Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (703) 347-8019; fax number: (703) 308-7070; e-
mail address: wait.monica@epa.gov.

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 and 
human health advocates; the chemical industry; pesticide users; pet 
owners; 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

[[Page 27036]]

appropriate 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

    The Agency has opened a 60-day comment period for an NRDC petition 
requesting the cancellation of all tetrachlorvinphos pet uses. The 
petition was filed on April 24, 2009, and NRDC claims that the Agency 
did not include the TCVP pet collar use pattern, which is the worst 
case exposure scenario, and that the Agency used assumptions which 
underestimated exposures when conducting the risk assessment in support 
of the 2002 Tetrachlorvinphos RED.
    On April 24, 2009, NRDC also submitted a supplement to their 
previous petition to cancel all pet collar uses for propoxur, which 
provided some additional information on the pesticide. The original 
NRDC petition, submitted November 2007, was recently posted for a 60-
day public comment period under docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0207 
through a notice of availability published in the Federal Register 
issue of April 8, 2009 (74 FR 15980)(FRL-8408-4). The public comment 
period for that docket was previously scheduled to close on June 8, 
2009. However, this Federal Register notice will extend the public 
comment period for that docket to 60-days from the publication of this 
notice. Note that for propoxur, pet collars are currently the only 
products registered for use on pets. There are no other types of pet 
products, such as spot-ons, sprays, or shampoos, registered for use on 
pets. Therefore, NRDC's petition to cancel applies only to propoxur pet 
collar uses.
    In both the TCVP and propoxur petitions, NRDC claims that 
residential exposures may be significantly higher than estimated by EPA 
through common daily activities between children and pets. NRDC also 
cites specific revised hand-to-mouth exposure scenarios from published 
studies which they feel should have been included in the TCVP and 
propoxur exposure assessments.
    NRDC conducted a study designed to estimate exposure to TCVP and 
propoxur from flea collars. A summary of the study was submitted in an 
issue paper along with the petition to cancel pet uses of TCVP and 
propoxur. The Agency has requested that NRDC provide additional 
information regarding the study. The Agency's letter requesting 
information and NRDC's response will be included in both the TCVP and 
the propoxur dockets.
    EPA's 2002 Interim Tolerance Eligibility and Reregistration 
Eligibility Decision (RED) documents for tetrachlorvinphos are 
available on EPA's pesticide webpage at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/
reregistration/status.htm.
    EPA's 1997 Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for propoxur 
is available on EPA's pesticide webpage at http://www.epa.gov/
pesticides/reregistration/status.htm.
    The 2007 NMC CRA, related documents and comments are available in 
the electronic docket at http://www.regulations.gov under docket ID 
number EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0935.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Natural Resources Defense Council, 
Pesticides and pests, Propoxur, Tetrachlorvinphos.

    Dated: May 29, 2009.
 Richard P. Keigwin, Jr.,
Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of 
Pesticide Program.

[FR Doc. E9-13160 Filed 6-4-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-S
