On April 8, 2019, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) announced the opening of a docket on the draft toxicological profile for glyphosate. 84 Fed. Reg. 13922. ATSDR seeks comments and additional information or reports on studies about the health effects of glyphosate for review and potential inclusion in the profile. Comments are due by July 8, 2019. The draft profile includes a chapter on glyphosate’s potential for human exposure, which...
March 27, 2019
EPA Releases Draft Guidance for Pesticide Registrants on Plant Regulator Label Claims, Including Plant Biostimulants
On March 25, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted Draft Guidance for Plant Regulator Label Claims, Including Plant Biostimulants in Docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2018-0258. EPA issued the notice of availability in the Federal Register on March 27, 2019. 84 Fed. Reg. 11538. Comments on the draft guidance are due by May 28, 2019. EPA states that the draft guidance is intended to “provide guidance on identifying product label...
On March 21, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it was updating its Residual Time to 25% Bee Mortality (RT25) Data Table with information it has collected since the table was first published in 2014. EPA states that the “RT25 data help farmers and beekeepers know about how long a specific pesticide may remain toxic to bees and other insect pollinators following foliar application to crops,” and the new data “reflect the results of studies...
March 15, 2019
European Court Annuls Prior Judgments to Protect Testing Information Related to Glyphosate Authorization
On March 7, 2019, in the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU), the Eighth Chamber of the General Court issued two judgments in cases regarding access of confidential information related to glyphosate. One of these decisions (Tweedale v. EFSA, Case T-716/14) related to a 2014 request for two toxicity studies that were “key studies” in the determination of glyphosate’s acceptable daily intake (ADI). The second decision (Hautala et al. v. EFSA, Case T-329/17)...
On March 8, 2019, President Trump signed S. 483, the “Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018,” which reauthorizes the Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act (PRIA 4) through fiscal year 2023, updates the fee collection provisions and authorities available under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and addresses worker protection matters. The text is available at Congress.gov, which has not yet been updated to confirm...
On February 14, 2019, the Senate approved S. 483 to reauthorize the Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act (PRIA 4). The Senate bill did not have the specific categories and timelines of earlier reauthorization language, referring instead to more general legislative language that the Senate approved during the Farm Bill authorization in 2018. Legislation in this new session of Congress was necessary since PRIA was not reauthorized as part of the appropriations language...
February 28, 2019
New All Things Chemical Podcast™ Episode “Pesticides: Navigating New Technologies under FIFRA”
This week, Lynn L. Bergeson sat down with Sheryl Lindros Dolan, a senior regulatory consultant here at Bergeson & Campbell (B&C®), to discuss all things pesticides: past, present, and future. In the discussion, Ms. Dolan provides the historical and legal/regulatory background necessary to understand the current state of pesticide regulation, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manages under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA, as we...
February 26, 2019
Ninth Circuit Grants Petition for En Banc and Panel Rehearing in Chlorpyrifos Case
On February 6, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit) issued an order granting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) and Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s (collectively EPA or Respondents) September 24, 2018, petition for an en banc rehearing concerning the Ninth Circuit’s August 9, 2018, decision that vacated an EPA order maintaining chlorpyrifos registrations and remanded the case to EPA with directions to revoke all tolerances...
February 25, 2019
FDA Proposed Rule for OTC Sunscreen Drug Products Addresses Combination Sunscreen-Insect Repellent Products
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scheduled to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register on February 26, 2019, that would put into effect a final monograph for nonprescription, over-the-counter (OTC) sunscreen drug products. The proposed rule describes the conditions under which FDA proposes that OTC sunscreen monograph products are generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE) and not misbranded. Under the proposed rule, products that...
The Appropriations Bill that is expected to be signed into law on February 15, 2019, provides funding for the rest of Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 and averts another federal government shutdown. It does not, however, include either an extension of the Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act (PRIA 3) or Reauthorization, widely referred to as PRIA 4. This omission was a surprise to industry and to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On February 13, 2019,...