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Pesticide News Story: Registration Review Schedule/Program Update Information Available
For Release: March 6, 2009
EPA has issued an updated schedule for the registration review program, the periodic review of all registered pesticides mandated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The updated schedule provides the timetable for opening dockets for the next four years of the registration review program, from fiscal year (FY) 2009 to 2012, and includes information on dockets that opened in FY 2007 and FY 2008. This schedule keeps EPA on the required track to meet the completion date of October 1, 2022 for all pesticides registered as of October 1, 2007.
EPA also announces that the Agency intends to review the neonicotinoid pesticides as a group, and has moved several of these pesticides ahead in the schedule so that dockets for all will open no later than in FY 2012. The neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides with a common mode of action that affects the central nervous system of insects, causing paralysis and death. European studies suggest that neonicotinic residues can accumulate in pollen and nectar of treated plants, and represent a potential risk to pollinators. The registration review docket for the neonicotinoid imidacloprid opened in December 2008, and the docket for nithiazine is scheduled to be opened in March 2009. To better ensure a "evel playing field" for the neonicotinoid class as a whole, and to best take advantage of new research as it becomes available, the Agency has moved the docket openings for the remaining neonicotinoids on the registration review schedule (acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam) to FY 2012.
Beginning in 2009, all new dockets for conventional pesticide cases entering registration review will have a 60-day public comment period. Previously, the comment period for some pesticides was longer than 60 days. Based on over two years of experience in implementing the program, EPA believes that 60 days will allow the public to review these dockets and identify any additional information that the Agency should consider, and still allow the Agency to open 70 new dockets annually and comply with the PRIA II requirement that each pesticide case be reevaluated every 15 years. The comment period for antimicrobial, biopesticide, and microbial pesticide cases has previously been set at 60 days.
EPA is announcing the updated schedule as provided in Sections 155.42(d) and 155.44 of the Procedural Regulations for Registration Review: Final Rule. The Agency may consider issues raised by the public or registrant when reviewing a posted schedule, to schedule a pesticide registration review, or to modify the schedule of a pesticide registration review as appropriate. This schedule will be updated at least once every year.
- The Schedule for Beginning Reviews and an explanation of the schedule are now available.
- Information about the neonicotinoids and other groups of related pesticides beginning registration review are available on the Web site.
- Information about the registration review program is now available.