. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/USA/199
23 November 1999
(99-5073)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  UNITED STATES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  Environmental Protection Agency - EPA
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, whereapplicable).  Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or
practicable:  Organophosphate pesticides
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Organophosphate Pesticides:
Availability of Preliminary Risk Assessment s for Trichlorfon and Dicrotophos (3 pages plus
related documents)
5. Description of content: This notice announces the availability of documents that were
developed as part of the EPA's process for making reregistration eligibility decisions for
the organophosphate pesticides and for tolerance reassessments consistent with the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food QualityProtection Act of 1996 (FQPA). These documents are the preliminary human health risk
assessments and related documents for trichlorfon, and the preliminary human health and
ecological risk assessments and related documents for dicrotophos. This notice also
starts a 60-day public comment period for the preliminary risk assessments. Comments
are to be limited to issues directly associated with the two organophosphates that have
the risk assessments placed in the docket and should be limited to issues raised in those
documents. By allowing access and opportunity for comment on the preliminary riskassessments, EPA is seeking to strengthen stakeholder involvement and help ensure our
decisions under FQPA are transparent and based on the best available information. The
tolerance reassessment process will ensure that  the United States continues to have the
safest and most abundant food supply. The Agency cautions that these risk assessments
are preliminary assessments only and that further refinements of the risk assessmentswill be appropriate for some, if not all, of these organophosphate pesticides. These
documents reflect only the work and analysis conducted as of the time they were
produced and it is appropriate that, as new information becomes available and/or
additional analyses are performed, the conclusions they contain may change.
6. Objective and rationale: [  X ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           G/SPS/N/USA/199
Page 2
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [    ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations: Some differences currently exist between the
United States MRLs for organophosphate pesticides and CXLs under Codex Alimentarius.
Making these documents available at this stage is meant to increase transparency and publicinvolvement in the US tolerance reassessment process for organophosphate pesticides.
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  64 FR 61332,
10 November 1999 (Available in English)
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined.
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined.
11. Final date for comments:  10 January 1999
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [     ] National notification
authority, [     ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:  Environmental Protection Agency
Detailed instruction on where and how to send comments is in the body of the full text -
which will be sent upon request to the address in paragraph 12.
12. Texts available from: [  X ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry point
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
United States SPS Enquiry Point/Notification Authority
USDA/FAS/FSTSDATTN: Carolyn F. Wilson
Room 5545 South Agriculture Building
Stop 1027
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20250Phone (202) 720-2239
Fax (202) 690-0677
E-mail Address: ofsts@fas.usda.gov