Reduced-Risk Pesticide Program: general overview. May 27, 1998. US EPA OPP.

FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK

Pesticide Categories: US EPA Reduced-Risk Pesticides. General Overview. May 27, 1998.

US EPA, Office of Pesticide Programs
TRAC May 27, 1998
http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/trac/safero.htm

Staff Background Paper # 2.4

GENERAL OVERVIEW: REDUCED-RISK PESTICIDE PROGRAM

Goal: EPA's Reduced-risk Initiative expedites the registration of conventional pesticides that the Agency believes pose less risk to human health and the environment than existing alternatives. The goal of the program is to quickly register commercially viable alternatives to riskier pesticides such as neurotoxins, carcinogens, reproductive and developmental toxicants and groundwater contaminants. The Initiative, begun in 1993, provides a major incentive for registrants to develop reduced-risk pesticides and ensures these pesticides are available to growers as soon as possible.

Definition: Conventional reduced-risk pesticides have one or more of the following advantages over existing products: low impact on human health, low toxicity to non-target organisms (birds, fish, and plants), low potential for groundwater contamination, lower use rates, low pest resistance potential, and compatibility with Integrated Pest Management. (Biological pesticides, which also have many of these desirable characteristics, are handled through a different expediting process.)

Incentives: The major incentive for a company to come in with a reduced-risk pesticide is registration time. Reduced-risk pesticides are registered in about one-third the time required to register a conventional non-reduced-risk pesticide (on average, 16 months vs 38 months). This allows the chemical to be introduced into the market at the earliest possible time and displace riskier alternatives as soon as possible. It also allows the registrant several additional growing seasons under patent. In addition, although companies are not allowed to put a reduced-risk claim on their labels, EPA believes that companies use the reduced-risk status to marketing advantage.

Procedure: Companies, upon filing a registration application, have the option of compiling a Reduced-risk Rationale and applying for reduced-risk status. The Reduced-risk Committee (composed of Agency experts on human health, environmental fate and effects, biological pesticides, economics, registration, reregistration, and external affairs) reviews the chemical's reduced-risk claims. A meeting is held with the registrant and the Reduced-risk Committee within four weeks of the application. At the meeting, the registrant gives a brief presentation and then answers questions from the Agency. The committee then deliberates and decides to grant or deny reduced-risk status. The average time for a reduced-risk status decision is 30 days.

Trends: Interest in the Reduced-risk initiative continues to grow. Each year the number of applications for reduced risk status has increased. The initiative has received 50 requests for reduced risk to date with 19 of those requests in the past year.

Program Status: See the next page for detailed status of the Reduced-Risk Pesticide Program.

Reduced-Risk Chemicals Program Status (as of 5/12/98)

-- Note from FAN --
The pesticides highlighted in red are organofluorines.

Chemical	Pesticide Type	Use(s)	Application Date	Month Registered
FY94 Completions
Hexaflumuron	Termiticide	Below ground bait station	January 1993	March 1994
Methyl Anthranilate	Bird Repellent	Food crops	October 1992	September 1994
FY95 Completions
Flumiclorac-pentyl	Herbicide	Corn, Soybean	June 1993	November 1994
Tebufenozide	Insecticide	Walnut	October 1993	May 1995
Hymexazol	Fungicide	Sugarbeet	August 1993	August 1995
FY96 Completions
Fludioxonil	Fungicide	Corn	December 1993	October 1995
Cadre	Herbicide	Peanut	July 1994	March 1996
Mefenoxam	Fungicide	Ornamentals, Citrus, Nuts, Fruit Trees, Forestry	September 1995	March 1996
FY97 Completions
Azoxystrobin	Fungicide	Turf	June 1995	February 1997
Spinosad	Insecticide	Cotton	December 1994	February 1997
alpha-Metolachlor	Herbicide	All metolachlor uses	January 1996	March 1997
Imazamox	Herbicide	Soybeans	December 1995	May 1997
Hexaflumuron ⁽¹⁾	Termiticide	Above-ground bait station	January 1997	March 1997
Azoxystrobin¹	Fungicide	Grape, Banana, Peach, Tomato, Pecan, Peanut	June 1995 November 1995 July 1996	June 1997
FY98 Completions
Fludioxonil¹	Fungicide	Potato	April 1997	October 1997
Diflubenzuron ¹	Insecticide	Below ground termite bait station	November 1997	January 1998
Cyprodinil	Fungicide	Stone Fruit	February 1996	April 1998
Pending Actions:
Pyriproxyfen	Insecticide	Cotton	June 1996
Tralkoxydim	Herbicide	Wheat, Barley	August 1996
Carfentrazone	Herbicide	Wheat, Corn	November 1996
Diflufenzopyr	Herbicide	Corn	June 1997
s-Dimethenamid	Herbicide	Corn, Soybean, Peanut	June 1997
Fenhexamid	Fungicide	Grape, Strawberry, Ornamental	June 1997
Azoxystrobin	Fungicide	Almond, Cucurbit, Rice, Wheat	July 1997
Tebufenozide	Insecticide	Pome Fruit, Cotton, Leafy Vegetables, Cole Crops, Sugarcane, Pecan, Forestry, Fruiting Vegetables, Ornamentals	September 1997
Pymetrozine	Insecticide	Potato, Cucurbit, Tomato, Tobacco	October 1997
Bifenazate	Insecticide	Ornamentals	December 1997
DPX-MP062	Insecticide	Cotton, Tomato, Pepper, Cole Crops, Lettuce, Sweet Corn, Apple, Pear	December 1997
Trifloxystrobin	Fungicide	Pome Fruit, Grape, Cucurbit, Peanut, Turf, Banana	January 1998
Pyriproxyfen	Insecticide	Apple, Pear, Walnut	January 1998
Acibenzolar-S-methyl	Plant Activator	Tomato, Lettuce, Tobacco	April 1998
Fludioxonil	Fungicide	Various seed treatments	April 1998

1. New uses of existing active ingredients