
                 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
                            WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460

                                                      						                                    OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY
AND POLLUTION PREVENTION

         Risks and Benefits for the Remaining Uses of Azinphos-methyl
                                 July 1, 2012


In November of 2006, EPA issued a final decision to phase out all of the remaining uses of azinphos-methyl (AZM) by September 30, 2012.  The phase-out was implemented through amended registration terms and conditions submitted by each of the AZM registrants.  EPA also issued a cancellation order to put the phase-out into effect.  In connection with the terms and conditions of registration, EPA committed to conducting a new risk-benefit analysis prior to the effective date of cancellation.  Following that analysis, EPA would then determine whether the risk benefit analysis indicated the need to allow for an extension of the 6-year phase-out period or whether it supported maintaining the terms of the current phase out. 

In the 2006 phase-out decision, EPA determined that there were worker and ecological risks that warranted cancellation, but concluded that in light of high near-term benefits to growers, it would allow a 6-year phase-out, provided certain risk mitigation provisions (reduced applications and application rates, as well as buffer zones around water bodies and certain structures) were implemented during the phase-out to further reduce risk to workers and the environment. EPA concluded that high near-time benefits existed because many key alternatives lacked maximum residue limits (MRLs) that allowed export of treated crops to certain important export markets.  EPA also determined that growers needed time to transition to effective strategies for applying the alternatives.  Even with the mitigation, EPA determined that the risks were in excess of EPA's levels of concern for workers and non-target wildlife and that in the longer term, these risks merited the cancellation of the remaining uses of AZM given that benefits, while still significant, were likely to decline over the phase-out period as MRLs were established by other countries for many newer alternatives.

This document identifies the supporting documents EPA will utilize in its risk-benefit analysis.  In assessing the risks and benefits in 2012, EPA has reviewed any new information received since the 2006 decision to determine the extent to which factors may have significantly changed from the previous risk-benefit analysis.  There has been no new information submitted that would change EPA's worker or ecological risk pictures significantly from the 2006 assessment.   Therefore EPA continues to rely on the risk assessment conducted in 2006.  EPA has also collected and considered an extensive body of information concerning the current benefits of AZM.  Using this new information, EPA completed and added to the public docket a crop-by-crop analysis of the current grower impacts of maintaining the September 30, 2012 cancellation date.  These documents can be found at:  http://www.regulations.gov under docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0365.  

EPA will use these analyses to make a determination whether to keep in place or amend the cancellation order that becomes effective September 30, 2012.



