[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 28, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56173-56176]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25715]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 180

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0616; FRL-9970-06]


Polyethyleneimine; Exemption From the Requirement of a Tolerance

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement 
of a tolerance for residues of polyethyleneimine when used as an inert 
ingredient in a pesticide chemical formulation on growing crops and raw 
agricultural commodities after harvest. BASF Corporation submitted a 
petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), 
requesting establishment of an exemption from the requirement of a 
tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum 
permissible level for residues of polyethyleneimine when used as an 
inert in pesticide formulations applied to growing crops and raw 
agricultural commodities after harvest.

DATES: This regulation is effective November 28, 2017. Objections and 
requests for hearings must be received on or before January 29, 2018, 
and must be filed in accordance with the instructions provided in 40 
CFR part 178 (see also Unit I.C. of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION).

ADDRESSES: The docket for this action, identified by docket 
identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0616, is available at http://www.regulations.gov or at the Office of Pesticide Programs Regulatory 
Public Docket (OPP Docket) in the Environmental Protection Agency 
Docket Center (EPA/DC), West William Jefferson Clinton Bldg., Rm. 3334, 
1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC

[[Page 56174]]

20460-0001. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone 
number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone 
number for the OPP Docket is (703) 305-5805. Please review the visitor 
instructions and additional information about the docket available at 
http://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Goodis, Director, Registration 
Division (7505P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; main telephone number: (703) 305-7090; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    You may be potentially affected by this action if you are an 
agricultural producer, food manufacturer, or pesticide manufacturer. 
The following list of North American Industrial Classification System 
(NAICS) codes is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a 
guide to help readers determine whether this document applies to them. 
Potentially affected entities may include:
     Crop production (NAICS code 111).
     Animal production (NAICS code 112).
     Food manufacturing (NAICS code 311).
     Pesticide manufacturing (NAICS code 32532).

B. How can I get electronic access to other related information?

    You may access a frequently updated electronic version of 40 CFR 
part 180 through the Government Printing Office's e-CFR site at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?&c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title40/40tab_02.tpl.

C. How can I file an objection or hearing request?

    Under FFDCA section 408(g), 21 U.S.C. 346a, any person may file an 
objection to any aspect of this regulation and may also request a 
hearing on those objections. You must file your objection or request a 
hearing on this regulation in accordance with the instructions provided 
in 40 CFR part 178. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, you must identify 
docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0616 in the subject line on the first 
page of your submission. All objections and requests for a hearing must 
be in writing, and must be received by the Hearing Clerk on or before 
January 29, 2018. Addresses for mail and hand delivery of objections 
and hearing requests are provided in 40 CFR 178.25(b).
    In addition to filing an objection or hearing request with the 
Hearing Clerk as described in 40 CFR part 178, please submit a copy of 
the filing (excluding any Confidential Business Information (CBI)) for 
inclusion in the public docket. Information not marked confidential 
pursuant to 40 CFR part 2 may be disclosed publicly by EPA without 
prior notice. Submit the non-CBI copy of your objection or hearing 
request, identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0616, by one of 
the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit 
electronically any information you consider to be CBI or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
     Mail: OPP Docket, Environmental Protection Agency Docket 
Center (EPA/DC), (28221T), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 
20460-0001.
     Hand Delivery: To make special arrangements for hand 
delivery or delivery of boxed information, please follow the 
instructions at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/contacts.html.
    Additional instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along 
with more information about dockets generally, is available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.

II. Petition for Exemption

    In the Federal Register of February 7, 2017 (82 FR 9555) (FRL-9956-
86), EPA issued a document pursuant to FFDCA section 408, 21 U.S.C. 
346a, announcing the filing of a pesticide petition (PP IN-10981) by 
Spring Trading Company, LLC, on behalf of BASF Corporation, 100 Campus 
Drive, Florham, NJ 07932. The petition requested that 40 CFR 180.910 be 
amended by establishing an exemption from the requirement of a 
tolerance for residues of polyethyleneimine (CAS Reg. No. 9002-98-6) 
when used as an inert ingredient emulsifier, surfactant, adjuvant, 
dispersant, and/or coating in pesticide formulations applied to growing 
crops and raw agricultural commodities after harvest. That document 
referenced a summary of the petition prepared by BASF Corporation, the 
petitioner, which is available in the docket, http://www.regulations.gov. There were no comments received in response to the 
notice of filing.

III. Inert Ingredient Definition

    Inert ingredients are all ingredients that are not active 
ingredients as defined in 40 CFR 153.125 and include, but are not 
limited to, the following types of ingredients (except when they have a 
pesticidal efficacy of their own): Solvents such as alcohols and 
hydrocarbons; surfactants such as polyoxyethylene polymers and fatty 
acids; carriers such as clay and diatomaceous earth; thickeners such as 
carrageenan and modified cellulose; wetting, spreading, and dispersing 
agents; propellants in aerosol dispensers; microencapsulating agents; 
and emulsifiers. The term ``inert'' is not intended to imply 
nontoxicity; the ingredient may or may not be chemically active. 
Generally, EPA has exempted inert ingredients from the requirement of a 
tolerance based on the low toxicity of the individual inert 
ingredients.

IV. Aggregate Risk Assessment and Determination of Safety

    Section 408(c)(2)(A)(i) of FFDCA allows EPA to establish an 
exemption from the requirement for a tolerance (the legal limit for a 
pesticide chemical residue in or on a food) only if EPA determines that 
the tolerance is ``safe.'' Section 408(b)(2)(A)(ii) of FFDCA defines 
``safe'' to mean that ``there is a reasonable certainty that no harm 
will result from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue, 
including all anticipated dietary exposures and all other exposures for 
which there is reliable information.'' This includes exposure through 
drinking water and in residential settings, but does not include 
occupational exposure. Section 408(b)(2)(C) of FFDCA requires EPA to 
give special consideration to exposure of infants and children to the 
pesticide chemical residue in establishing a tolerance and to ``ensure 
that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result to 
infants and children from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical 
residue. . . .''
    EPA establishes exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance only 
in those cases where it can be clearly demonstrated that the risks from 
aggregate exposure to pesticide chemical residues under reasonably 
foreseeable circumstances will pose no appreciable risks to human 
health. In order to determine the risks from aggregate exposure to 
pesticide inert ingredients, the Agency considers the toxicity of the 
inert ingredient in conjunction with possible exposure to residues of 
the inert ingredient through food, drinking water, and through other

[[Page 56175]]

exposures that occur as a result of pesticide use in residential 
settings. If EPA is able to determine that a finite tolerance is not 
necessary to ensure that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm 
will result from aggregate exposure to the inert ingredient, an 
exemption from the requirement of a tolerance may be established.
    Consistent with FFDCA section 408(c)(2)(A), and the factors 
specified in FFDCA section 408(c)(2)(B), EPA has reviewed the available 
scientific data and other relevant information in support of this 
action. EPA has sufficient data to assess the hazards of and to make a 
determination on aggregate exposure for polyethyleneimine including 
exposure resulting from the exemption established by this action. EPA's 
assessment of exposures and risks associated with polyethyleneimine 
follows.
    Consistent with FFDCA section 408(b)(2)(D), EPA has reviewed the 
available scientific data and other relevant information in support of 
this action and considered its validity, completeness and reliability 
and the relationship of this information to human risk. EPA has also 
considered available information concerning the variability of the 
sensitivities of major identifiable subgroups of consumers, including 
infants and children.
    In the case of certain chemical substances that are defined as 
polymers, the Agency has established a set of criteria to identify 
categories of polymers expected to present minimal or no risk. The 
definition of a polymer is given in 40 CFR 723.250(b) and the exclusion 
criteria for identifying these low-risk polymers are described in 40 
CFR 723.250(d). Polyethyleneimine conforms to the definition of a 
polymer given in 40 CFR 723.250(b) and meets the following criteria 
that are used to identify low-risk polymers.
    1. The polymer does contain as an integral part of its composition 
at least two of the atomic elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, 
silicon, and sulfur.
    2. The polymer does not contain as an integral part of its 
composition, except as impurities, any element other than those listed 
in 40 CFR 723.250(d)(2)(ii).
    3. The polymer is neither designed nor can it be reasonably 
anticipated to substantially degrade, decompose, or depolymerize.
    4. The polymer is manufactured or imported from monomers and/or 
reactants that are already included on the Toxic Substances Control Act 
(TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory or manufactured under an applicable 
TSCA section 5 exemption.
    5. The polymer is not a water absorbing polymer with a number 
average molecular weight (MW) greater than or equal to 10,000 daltons.
    6. The polymer does not contain certain perfluoroalkyl moieties 
consisting of a CF3- or longer chain length as listed in 40 CFR 
723.250(d)(6).
    Additionally, the polymer also meets as required the following 
exemption criteria: Specified in 40 CFR 723.250(e):
    7. The polymer's number average MW of 1,300 is greater than 1,000 
and less than 10,000 daltons. The polymer contains less than 10% 
oligomeric material below MW 500 and less than 25% oligomeric material 
below MW 1,000, and the polymer does not contain any reactive 
functional groups.
    Polyethyleneimine conforms to the definition of polymer and meets 
all of the exclusion criteria in 40 CFR Sec.  723.250, as listed in 
this section, except that it is cationic. Cationic polymers are 
excluded from the polymer exemption from tolerance under 40 CFR Sec.  
723.250 (in which manufacture and distribution of polymers meeting the 
exemption criteria can take place without submission of a 
Premanufacture Notice (PMN) or an exemption notice prior to 
commencement of manufacture for a commercial purpose) because of their 
potential to cause aquatic toxicity. The petitioner has submitted 
aquatic toxicity studies and based on these studies, the Agency does 
not expect toxicity to nontarget aquatic organisms. Because of its 
conformance to the criteria in this unit, no mammalian toxicity is 
anticipated from dietary, inhalation, or dermal exposure to 
polyethyleneimine.

V. Aggregate Exposure

    For the purposes of assessing potential exposure under this 
exemption, EPA considered that polyethyleneimine could be present in 
all raw and processed agricultural commodities and drinking water, and 
that non-occupational non-dietary exposure was possible. The number 
average MW of polyethyleneimine is 1,300 daltons. Generally, a polymer 
of this size would be poorly absorbed through the intact 
gastrointestinal tract or through intact human skin. Since 
polyethyleneimine conforms to the human health criteria that identify a 
low-risk polymer, there are no concerns for risks associated with any 
potential exposure scenarios that are reasonably foreseeable. The 
Agency has determined that a tolerance is not necessary to protect the 
public health.

VI. Cumulative Effects From Substances With a Common Mechanism of 
Toxicity

    Section 408(b)(2)(D)(v) of FFDCA requires that, when considering 
whether to establish, modify, or revoke a tolerance, the Agency 
consider ``available information'' concerning the cumulative effects of 
a particular pesticide's residues and ``other substances that have a 
common mechanism of toxicity.''
    EPA has not found polyethyleneimine to share a common mechanism of 
toxicity with any other substances, and polyethyleneimine does not 
appear to produce a toxic metabolite produced by other substances. For 
the purposes of this tolerance action, therefore, EPA has assumed that 
polyethyleneimine does not have a common mechanism of toxicity with 
other substances. For information regarding EPA's efforts to determine 
which chemicals have a common mechanism of toxicity and to evaluate the 
cumulative effects of such chemicals, see EPA's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/cumulative.

VII. Additional Safety Factor for the Protection of Infants and 
Children

    Section 408(b)(2)(C) of FFDCA provides that EPA shall apply an 
additional tenfold margin of safety for infants and children in the 
case of threshold effects to account for prenatal and postnatal 
toxicity and the completeness of the data base unless EPA concludes 
that a different margin of safety will be safe for infants and 
children. Due to the expected low toxicity of polyethyleneimine, based 
on its conformance to the human health criteria under 40 CFR 723.250, 
EPA has not used a safety factor analysis to assess the risk. For the 
same reasons the additional tenfold safety factor is unnecessary.

VIII. Determination of Safety

    Taking into consideration all available information on 
polyethyleneimine with a minimum number average molecular weight of 
1,300 amu, EPA has determined that there is a reasonable certainty that 
no harm to any population subgroup will result from aggregate exposure 
to polyethyleneimine under reasonable foreseeable circumstances. 
Therefore, the establishment of an exemption from tolerance under 40 
CFR 180.910 for residues of polyethyleneimine when used as an inert 
ingredient in pesticide formulations applied to growing crops and raw 
agricultural commodities after harvest, is safe under FFDCA section 
408.

[[Page 56176]]

IX. Analytical Enforcement Methodology

    An analytical method is not required for enforcement purposes since 
the Agency is establishing an exemption from the requirement of a 
tolerance without any numerical limitation.

X. Conclusions

    Therefore, an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance is 
established under 40 CFR 180.910 for polyethyleneimine with a number 
average molecular weight of 1,300 amu (CAS Reg. No. 9002-98-6) when 
used as an inert ingredient (emulsifier, surfactant, adjuvant, 
dispersant, and/or coating) in pesticide formulations applied to 
growing crops and raw agricultural commodities after harvest.

XI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    This action establishes an exemption from the requirement of a 
tolerance under FFDCA section 408(d) in response to a petition 
submitted to the Agency. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has 
exempted these types of actions from review under Executive Order 
12866, entitled ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' (58 FR 51735, 
October 4, 1993). Because this action has been exempted from review 
under Executive Order 12866, this action is not subject to Executive 
Order 13211, entitled ``Actions Concerning Regulations That 
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 
28355, May 22, 2001); Executive Order 13045, entitled ``Protection of 
Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997); or Executive Order 13771, entitled ``Reducing 
Regulations and Controlling Regulatory Costs'' (82 FR 9339, February 3, 
2017). This action does not contain any information collections subject 
to OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), nor does it require any special considerations under 
Executive Order 12898, entitled ``Federal Actions to Address 
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income 
Populations'' (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
    Since tolerances and exemptions that are established on the basis 
of a petition under FFDCA section 408(d), such as the exemption in this 
final rule, do not require the issuance of a proposed rule, the 
requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601 et 
seq.), do not apply.
    This action directly regulates growers, food processors, food 
handlers, and food retailers, not States or tribes, nor does this 
action alter the relationships or distribution of power and 
responsibilities established by Congress in the preemption provisions 
of FFDCA section 408(n)(4). As such, the Agency has determined that 
this action will not have a substantial direct effect on States or 
tribal governments, on the relationship between the national government 
and the States or tribal governments, or on the distribution of power 
and responsibilities among the various levels of government or between 
the Federal Government and Indian tribes. Thus, the Agency has 
determined that Executive Order 13132, entitled ``Federalism'' (64 FR 
43255, August 10, 1999) and Executive Order 13175, entitled 
``Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments'' (65 FR 
67249, November 9, 2000) do not apply to this action. In addition, this 
action does not impose any enforceable duty or contain any unfunded 
mandate as described under Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 
(UMRA) (2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
    This action does not involve any technical standards that would 
require Agency consideration of voluntary consensus standards pursuant 
to section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement 
Act (NTTAA) (15 U.S.C. 272 note).

XII. Congressional Review Act

    Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), 
EPA will submit a report containing this rule and other required 
information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and 
the Comptroller General of the United States prior to publication of 
the rule in the Federal Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' 
as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 180

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Agricultural commodities, Pesticides and pests, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: November 14, 2017.
Michael Goodis,
Director, Registration Division.
    Therefore, 40 CFR chapter I is amended as follows:

PART 180--[AMENDED]


0
1. The authority citation for part 180 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  21 U.S.C. 321(q), 346a and 371.


0
2. In Sec.  180.910, add alphabetically the inert ingredient to the 
table to read as follows:


Sec.  180.910   Inert ingredients used pre- and post-harvest; 
exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance.

* * * * *

------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Inert ingredients              Limits                 Uses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                              * * * * * * *
Polyethyleneimine (CAS Reg.   Minimum number        Emulsifier,
 No. 9002-98-6).               average molecular     surfactant,
                               weight 1,300 amu.     adjuvant,
                                                     dispersant and/or
                                                     coating.
 
                              * * * * * * *
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[FR Doc. 2017-25715 Filed 11-27-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


