EPA Releases Draft Policy to Reduce Pesticide Testing on Birds

This original announcement was published by the EPA on September 17th, 2019.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft science policy intended to reduce testing of pesticides on birds when registering conventional outdoor pesticides. The draft policy is open for public comment. This draft policy is in line with  EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s recent commitment to reduce animal testing at EPA.

“Today, EPA is issuing a new proposal to reduce pesticide testing on birds,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This is EPA’s first action after my recent directive to aggressively reduce animal testing throughout the Agency.”

The draft policy represents another step toward the agency’s commitment to reduce animal testing while also ensuring that the agency receives enough information to support pesticide registration decisions that are protective of public health and the environment.

Waiving requirements for toxicity studies when they offer little additional scientific information or public health protection is an important component of the draft policy, which emphasizes avoiding unnecessary resource use, data generation costs, and animal testing.

The foundation of this policy is EPA’s collaboration with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). EPA and PETA are working on a retrospective analysis of avian acute oral and subacute dietary studies. This analysis will address whether EPA can confidently assess acute risk for birds using only the single oral dose protocol.

The draft policy can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-09/documents/draft-waiver-guidance-avian-sub-acute-dietary.pdf.

EPA is accepting public comment until Nov. 1, 2019. Please email comments to OPPeco@epa.gov.

USDA surveying fruit growers about chemical use

The original article was published by Fruit Growers News on September 12, 2019 and can be accessed here

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Olympia, Washington office said in a Sept. 9 press release it would soon begin surveying fruit growers in 12 states for its biennial Fruit Chemical Use Survey.

This survey will collect information on fertilizer and pesticide applications, and pest management practices for bearing fruit acres, according to the press release. Acres treated and application rates will be collected for more than 20 fruit crops in the 12 program states.

“Growers benefit from providing this information because it is used to re-register products for their use, to illustrate the industry’s environmental practices, and to assure the quality of U.S. food to consumers here and around the world,” Northwest Regional Director Christopher Mertz said in the release.

The surveyed states are California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

The Fruit Chemical Use Survey will provide much-needed information about the current crop production practices used in the United States, according to the press release. The results of this survey will paint a detailed picture of pesticide use and other pest management practices used by the fruit growers across the nation.

NASS said to conduct the survey, its representatives will contact selected Oregon and Washington growers to arrange in-person interviews. The results of this survey will be available in aggregate form only, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified, as required by federal law.

“The Northwest Horticultural Council (NHC) strongly encourages tree fruit growers in the Pacific Northwest to participate in the upcoming NASS Chemical Use Survey,” Mark Powers, president of the NHC.

Survey results will be published in NASS’s online database, “Quick Stats,” in July 2020, NASS said. The database and all NASS reports are available on the agency’s web site: www.nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Northwest Regional Field Office at 1-800-435-5883.

USDA NASS survey
Source: USDA NASS

EPA Receives Request for Experimental Permit to Combat Mosquitoes

This original announcement was published by the EPA on September 11, 2019. View the proposal description here


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has received an application for an experimental use permit that would allow Oxitec to study the use of genetically engineered mosquitoes to reduce mosquito populations. EPA is sharing a description of the application with the public for a 30-day comment period, closing Oct. 11, 2019.

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can spread several diseases of significant human health concern, including the Zika virus and dengue fever. Oxitec’s proposal is to conduct additional research on reducing these mosquito populations and to gather information that could support a subsequent application for broader use in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that “preventing bites from insects and ticks is vital to stopping the spread of vector-borne diseases, and more prevention methods are needed.”

Oxitec is proposing to release genetically engineered male mosquitoes into the environment to mate with wild female mosquitoes. Male mosquitoes do not bite people. These males are modified in such a way that causes their female offspring to die as larvae. Male offspring would survive to become fully functional adults with the same modifications, which can provide multi-generational effectiveness so that ultimately Aedes aegypti mosquito populations in the release areas decline.

Oxitec’s proposed experimental program is designed to take place over 24 months on up to 6,600 acres in Harris County, Texas, and Monroe County, Florida.

After review of the application and public comments, EPA will decide whether to issue or deny the permit and, if issued, the conditions under which the study is to be conducted.

Public comments about this proposed permit should be submitted to EPA-HQ-OPP-2019-0274 on or before Oct. 11, 2019.

View the proposal description.

EPA Seeks Comment on Process for Evaluating Pesticide Synergy for Ecological Risk Assessments

This original announcement was published by the EPA on September 9, 2019.


EPA has developed an interim process to review synergy data for mixtures of pesticide active ingredients and potentially incorporate that information into our ecological risk estimates. The interim process will be available for public comment on or before October 24, 2019 on www.regulations.govin docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2017-0433.

EPA generally evaluates pesticide ecological risks based on toxicity information from studies conducted with single active ingredients. This is based on best available evidence on pesticide interactions and the expectation that those interactions are rare. More recently, patent claims of synergy against target pests have raised questions and concerns about the adequacy of estimating risk of each individual active ingredient alone, especially for products mixed prior to application or products containing multiple active ingredients. Synergy occurs when the combined effect of two or more active ingredients are greater than the sum of the effects the chemicals would have individually. EPA hopes this process will close the gap between patent claims and our ecological risk assessments.

The specific feedback EPA is looking for is included in section IV of the Federal Register notice. Based on feedback and our analysis of the results of this process, EPA will determine whether synergy data supporting patents is useful for our ecological risk assessments and whether we should modify the interim process.

EPA to Hold Environmental Modeling Public Meeting in October

This original announcement was published by the EPA on September 4, 2019. Click here for more information.  

On Oct. 16, 2019, EPA will hold its semi-annual Environmental Modeling Public Meeting. This is a public forum for pesticide registrants, other stakeholders, and EPA to discuss current issues related to modeling pesticide fate, transport and exposure for risk assessments in a regulatory context.

The meeting will focus on:

  • Sources of usage data (relating to the actual application of pesticides, in terms of the quantity applied or units treated);
  • Spatial applications of usage data;
  • Model parameterization;
  • Extrapolation of usage data to fill in gaps;
  • Temporal variability of usage; and
  • Updates on ongoing topics.

There will also be presentations on incorporating pesticide usage data into environmental exposure and ecological risk assessments.

Registration is required. Requests to participate in the meeting must be received on or before Sept. 23, 2019. Please contact Rebecca Lazarus or Zoe Ruge at OPP_EMPM@epa.gov to register.

More information can be found at www.regulations.gov in docket # EPA_FRDOC_0001-24430Sign up for updates and abstract requests for future Environmental Modeling Public Meetings.