June 27, 2022

All Things Chemical® Podcast Presents “Balancing Wildlife Protection and Responsible Pesticide Use — A Conversation with EPA’s Jake Li

The latest episode of Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.’s (B&C®) All Things Chemical® podcast, “Balancing Wildlife Protection and Responsible Pesticide Use — A Conversation with Jake Li,” features a conversation with Jake Li, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Conversation topics include what the Administration is doing to balance wildlife protection and...
June 6, 2022

DPR Announces Public Workshops on Development of Statewide Pesticide Application Notification System

On May 25, 2022, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced that it will hold three public workshops to collect feedback on the next phase of design and development for DPR’s pesticide application notification system. DPR states that the workshops will be hosted online via Zoom and facilitated by the UC Davis Center for Regional Change. Each workshop will follow the same format, including a brief overview of the proposed design for the statewide...
June 1, 2022

EPA Activates Emergency Viral Pathogen Guidance for Monkeypox Virus

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on May 26, 2022, that on Monday, May 23, 2022, it has activated its Emerging Viral Pathogen (EVP) Guidance for Antimicrobial Pesticides (Guidance) in response to monkeypox, which had been considered to be a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in...
May 17, 2022

EPA Publishes Notice Concerning Court-Ordered Stay of Effectiveness for Pesticide Application Exclusion Zone Provision of the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard

As reported in our November 2, 2020, blog item, on October 30, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule on the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) regulation that revises the requirements on the pesticide application exclusion zone (AEZ), defined as an “area surrounding the point(s) of pesticide discharge from the application equipment that must generally be free of all persons during pesticide applications.” The final AEZ requirements were...
May 13, 2022

EPA Launches Modernized DfE Logo for Disinfectant and Other Antimicrobial Products

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on May 11, 2022, that it is launching a new, modern Design for the Environment (DfE) logo that will appear on antimicrobial products like disinfectants and sanitizers within the next year. EPA intends the DfE logo to help consumers and commercial buyers identify antimicrobial products that meet the health and safety standards of the typical pesticide registration process required by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and...
May 12, 2022

EPA Requests Comments on Aquatic Toxicity Data of Chitosan Salts — Proposal to Add Chitosan to the Minimum Risk Pesticide Active Ingredient List

 On May 6, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the availability of, and requesting comments on, data related to aquatic toxicity of chitosan salts. 87 Fed. Reg. 27059. Specifically, EPA is seeking comments on the following two aquatic toxicity reports submitted by Tidal Vision Products, LLC (Tidal Vision), the company that submitted a petition to EPA on October 10, 2018, requesting that EPA add chitosan to...
May 10, 2022

EPA Research Team Develops Framework to Determine What Products to Classify and Evaluate as Nanopesticides

According to a May 9, 2022, news item published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Advancing EPA’s Understanding of the Next Generation of Pesticides,” over the past decade, EPA “has received an increasing number of pesticide product applications that potentially contain nanomaterials.” The article notes that EPA’s current pesticide review method was not designed for nanomaterials, so each product is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. An EPA research team led by EPA...
April 28, 2022

Register Now for “Domestic Chemical Regulation and Achieving Circularity”

Wednesday, May 18, 202212:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. (EDT)Register Today A circular economy requires new thinking about what products we make, from which materials we make them, and where products go at the end of their useful life. An important but often overlooked aspect of new product development is an understanding of the consequences of the product’s chemical composition and the end-of-life implications of the decisions made at the front end of the process. Working...
April 26, 2022

OEHHA Announces Modification to Proposed Regulation on Safe Harbor Warnings for Glyphosate and Addition of Documents to Rulemaking File

On April 13, 2022, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a Notice of Modification to Proposed Regulation on Safe Harbor Warnings for Glyphosate and Addition of Documents to Rulemaking File (Notice). OEHHA first proposed this regulation by publishing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on July 23, 2021. OEHHA provided a 75-day comment period on the original proposal and its Initial Statement of Reasons (ISOR), including an extension to file comments until...
April 22, 2022

EPA Issues in Final Certain Pesticide Product Performance Data Requirements to Improve Clarity and Reduce Burden for Registrants

On April 15, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced final product performance data requirements for products claiming efficacy against certain pests. 87 Fed. Reg. 22464. This action officially incorporates EPA’s already existing product performance standards requirements for certain invertebrate pests into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).  EPA states this action also increases the efficiency of its approval process and will save...
April 21, 2022

Recording Available: “FIFRA Hot Topics”

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.’s (B&C®) April 20, 2022, webinar “FIFRA Hot Topics” is now available for on-demand viewing at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/7426709986449689102. During this one-hour webinar, Lisa M. Campbell, Partner, B&C, moderated a lively and informative discussion between Edward Messina, Director, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), and James V. Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant, B&C, as...
April 20, 2022

EPA Will Hold Webinar in May 2022 on Reducing Vertebrate Animal Testing

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on April 18, 2022, that it will hold a webinar on May 11, 2022, entitled “Data-Driven Solutions to Reducing Animal Use in Ecotoxicity.” Speakers will include: The webinar is co-organized by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Science Consortium International, EPA, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). EPA notes that it does not necessarily endorse the views of the...
April 6, 2022

Register Now for “FIFRA Hot Topics”

Wednesday, April 20, 202212:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. (EDT) Register Today Register now to join Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) for “FIFRA Hot Topics,” a complimentary webinar covering key Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) priorities and what companies should know to avoid market delays. Speakers include: Program:  With year one of the Biden Administration’s term in the history books, we have a clearer sense of how EPA is proceeding on all fronts....
March 8, 2022

EPA Releases Response Denying Objections to Its Final Rule Revoking All Tolerances for Chlorpyrifos

On February 25, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it has issued a response denying the objections filed against its final rule revoking all chlorpyrifos tolerances (Response). EPA issued the August 18, 2021, final rule in response to the Ninth Circuit Court’s Order directing EPA to issue a final rule in response to Pesticide Action Network North America and Natural Resources Defense Council’s 2007 petition, which requested EPA to revoke all...
February 2, 2022

“What to Expect in Chemicals in 2022” Webinar Recording Available Now

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.’s (B&C®) January 26, 2022, webinar “What to Expect in Chemicals in 2022” is now available for on-demand viewing at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/864194569862780944. During the 1-hour webinar, Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, B&C; Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry, B&C; and James V. Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant, B&C offered their best informed judgment as to the trends and key...
January 20, 2022

EPA Announces Proposed Rule to Update Several Pesticide Crop Groupings

On January 10, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is opening a 60-day comment period requesting public comments on the sixth proposed rule in an ongoing series of revisions to the pesticide crop grouping regulations. EPA states it is proposing revisions to its pesticide tolerance crop grouping regulations, which allow the establishment of tolerances for multiple related crops based on data from a representative set of crops. EPA proposes to amend the...
January 20, 2022

EPA Announces New Endangered Species Act Protection Policy for New Conventional Pesticides

On January 11, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is implementing a new policy regarding the evaluation and registration of new conventional pesticide active ingredients (AI) to comply further with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (ESA Policy). EPA also issued a Question and Answer document regarding its ESA Policy. Effective immediately, EPA will evaluate the potential effects of new conventional AIs on federally threatened or listed endangered...
January 20, 2022

EPA Announces It Is Extending Flexibilities to Minimize Supply-Chain Disruptions Facing the Pesticide Industry

On January 20, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is extending supply-chain flexibilities for registrants of certain conventional and biopesticide products to alleviate a supply-chain issue facing the pesticide industry. This is an extension of EPA’s July 2, 2021, action when EPA implemented supply-chain flexibilities that allowed registrants to substitute a combination of pre-approved alternate inert ingredients for inert ingredients derived...
January 20, 2022

Deadline for Filing Annual Pesticide Production Reports — March 1, 2022

The March 1, 2022, deadline for all establishments, foreign and domestic, that produce pesticides, devices, or active ingredients to file their annual production for the 2021 reporting year is fast approaching. Pursuant to Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Section 7(c)(1) (7 U.S.C. § 136e(c)(1)), “Any producer operating an establishment registered [under Section 7] shall inform the Administrator within 30 days after it is registered of the types and amounts of...
January 6, 2022

EPA Rescinds Final Rule for On-site Civil Inspection Procedures

On December 30, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule rescinding the March 2, 2020, final rule (2020 inspection rule) regarding EPA’s procedures for conducting on-site civil inspections. This final rule applies to on-site inspections conducted by EPA civil inspectors, federal contractors, and Senior Environmental Employment employees conducting inspections on behalf of EPA. This rule is effective immediately, as EPA states this rulemaking...