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EPA SEEKS COMMENT ON USING THE 99.9TH PERCENTILE FOR REGULATING ACUTE DIETARY RISKS FROM PESTICIDES

Release Date: 04/09/99
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1999

EPA SEEKS COMMENT ON USING THE 99.9TH PERCENTILE FOR REGULATING ACUTE DIETARY RISKS FROM PESTICIDES


EPA is seeking public comment for 60 days on a draft Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) guidance document titled “Choosing a Percentile of Acute Dietary Exposure as a Threshold of Regulatory Concern,” which presents the Agency’s current approach and rationale for using the 99.9th percentile as a standard for regulation in acute dietary (food) risk assessment. This is one of the key science policies identified by the Tolerance Reassessment Advisory Committee as crucial to implementing tolerance reassessment under FQPA. This paper discusses how EPA currently applies the statutory safety standard to acute dietary risk assessments when setting pesticide tolerances (maximum residue levels) in food, including analyses to determine the nature and the amounts of pesticides that people might be exposed to over a single day. It describes Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP’s) interim policy, concerns that have been raised about it, associated public health issues, and OPP’s plan for further evaluation and implementation. This policy has broad applicability to the reassessment of many pesticides. Copies of this document, which was published in the Federal Register on April 7, and other supporting documents may be obtained from: https://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST.

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