Metam Sodium Risk Assessment; Notice of Availability

October 29, 2008 Debra F. Edwards, Ph.D. Director, Office of Pesticide Programs Steven Bradbury Director, Special Review and Registration Division Office of Pesticide Programs Public Docket (7502P) US Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20460-0001 Re: Docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0125 for Metam Sodium Dear Dr. Edwards: These comments are provided on behalf of the National Potato Council (NPC) in response to the Federal Register Notice published July 16, 2008 soliciting input and comments on the proposed Metam Sodium/Potassium Reregistration Eligibility Decision (Metam RED) and on the other supporting documents for the Metam RED published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The NPC represents more than 95 percent of the potato growers in the 34 states in the United States that produce commercial quantities of potatoes. The value of potato production in the United States exceeds $3.5 billion annually and that economic value is greatly increased as a result of further processing, packing, handling and retailing. Potatoes are an expensive crop to grow and the economic risk to growers for damage to crops from various pests can be significant. For an efficient producer, the cost of producing an acre of potatoes can easily exceed $3,000. Therefore, the economic losses from a crop that is compromised by pests or disease can be devastating. For this reason managing pests of concern in potatoes is even more critical than for crops with significantly lower costs of production. The NPC has worked diligently to obtain information directly from growers on the impact of the mitigation measures included in the proposed Metam RED. Obtaining information was made more difficult by the fact that for a majority of the time since the publication of the Metam RED in July 2008, growers were in the midst of cropping and harvesting activities. The decision by EPA to not allow a longer comment time period was unfortunate. Based on the fact that growers will continue to gather information after the comment deadline on October 30, 2008, we are hopeful that the Agency will continue accept grower input on an informal basis after the close of the comment period. The final decisions on Metam Sodium are of critical importance to the potato industry and growers should have every opportunity to provide real world information to EPA. Consideration of Benefits EPA conducted a risk assessment and drafted a RED based upon certain data and concluded that without certain mitigation measures the use of a particular product would exceed the "unreasonable adverse effects on the environment" standard. In the case of Metam Sodium, which has been determined not to leave residues in food and therefore presents no dietary concerns, EPA is required to make the determination of "any unreasonable adverse effects" based on an evaluation of the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits arising from the use of the product. Metam Sodium is the primary product relied on by the U.S. potato industry to control Verticilium wilt. If uncontrolled through treatment Verticilium wilt can result in reductions in yield of more than fifty percent. Crop losses of this magnitude are not sustainable even for a single year. In regions of the United States that are highly productive potato growing areas but where Verticilium wilt is present, potato production would be discontinued without access to Metam Sodium. For this reason U.S. potato growers and the NPC have a direct interest in the reregistration of Metam Sodium. In the Metam RED, EPA proposed a set of mitigation measures that are unprecedented in their scope, complexity and impact on crop production. Each of these measures, including buffers, prohibition on overlapping buffers, monitoring, notification and required application practices, must be evaluated to determine if their individual contribution in mitigating risk ha…

Filed on regulations.gov — full text not in the inline record.

Filed on regulations.gov — full text not in the inline record.