The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice in the federal register Wednesday announcing that it has received a petition from the Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) to establish tolerances for the fungicide fluopyram in a number of commodities, including the recently established Spice Crop Group 26. If accepted as proposed, the tolerance for this crop group would be 70 parts per million. IR-4 is a public program of the United States Department of Agriculture that researches minor crop residues and makes tolerance recommendations to the EPA, including recommendations for the crop grouping system. This is the first tolerance petition submitted by IR-4 for the recently established herb and spice crop groups. The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) submitted comments to the rulemaking process for these new crop groups, and EPA added 110 commodities AHPA had requested to the groups in late 2020.

 

As with all announcements for pesticide tolerance establishment, EPA has made no determination what actions it will take regarding the requested tolerances, and whether additional data will be required to reach a final decision. The comment period for this notice closes on October 22, 2021.

EPA is announcing receipt of pesticide petitions filed under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), 21 U.S.C. 346a, requesting the establishment or modification of regulations in 40 CFR part 174 or part 180 for residues of pesticide chemicals in or on various food commodities. The Agency is taking public comment on the requests before responding to the petitioners. EPA is not proposing any particular action at this time. EPA has determined that the pesticide petitions described in this document contain data or information prescribed in FFDCA section 408(d)(2), 21 U.S.C. 346a(d)(2); however, EPA has not fully evaluated the sufficiency of the submitted data at this time or whether the data supports granting of the pesticide petitions. After considering the public comments, EPA intends to evaluate whether and what action may be warranted. Additional data may be needed before EPA can make a final determination on these pesticide petitions.

Pursuant to 40 CFR 180.7(f), summaries of the petitions that are the subject of this document, prepared by the petitioners, are included in dockets EPA has created for these rulemakings. The dockets for these petitions are available at http://www.regulations.gov.

As specified in FFDCA section 408(d)(3), 21 U.S.C. 346a(d)(3), EPA is publishing notice of the petitions so that the public has an opportunity to comment on these requests for the establishment or modification of regulations for residues of pesticides in or on food commodities. Further information on the petitions may be obtained through the petition summaries referenced in this unit.