WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/USA/1605 
18 June 2007  
 (07-2533) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd 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 should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Apple; grape; plum; prune; apricot; bean, snap, succulent; bean, snap, forage; 
corn, grain; pear; turnip; and turnip, greens; bean, lima, forage; clover, seed screenings; and 
sorghum, milled fractions; clover, hay; pumpkin; walnut; egg; poultry; broccoli; sorghum 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable :  Any 
US trade partners  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  PROPOSED RULE .  
Methamidophos, Oxydemeton-methyl, Profenofos , and Trichlorfon; Proposed Tolerance 
Actions (available in English, 9 pages) 
6. Description of content:  Currently, tolerances for oxydemeton-methyl are expressed for its 
cholinesterase- inhibiting metabolites. Based  on the Agency's determination that only 
residues of oxydemeton-methyl and its metabolite oxydemeton-methyl sulfone are of 
concern in plants, the tolerances should be recodified for plant commodities and animal 
commodities. Therefore, EPA is proposing to recodify plant tolerances and animal tolerances and revise the tolerance expression as follows: 
Because certain registered uses have product la bels which prohibit harvest within one year 
of application, so that there is no reasonable expectation of residues on food commodities, the Agency considers them to be nonfood uses of oxydemeton-methyl. As a result, the 
Agency is proposing to revoke the tolerances on apple, grape, and plum, prune, fresh on 
apricot. 
Because bean, lima, forage; clover, seed scree nings; and sorghum milled fractions (except 
flour) are no longer considered by the Agency  to be significant animal feed items, the 
Agency is proposing to revoke the tolera nces on bean, lima, forage; clover, seed 
screenings; and sorghum, milled fractions (except flour). 
In 1994, the technical registrant for oxydemeton-methyl (ODM) agreed not to market 
ODM on snap beans, field corn, popcorn, pears, and turnips but retained them on 
registrations with the possibility of requesting to reinstate them on marketing labels after 
EPA's review of needed ODM data and completion of dietary and worker risk assessments. 
However, there has been one active tec hnical registration with these uses from 1995 
through the December 5, 2005 effective date th at amended its label. Nevertheless, despite 
the allowance by EPA that existing stocks for the technical and end use registrations could G/SPS/N/USA/1605 
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  be sold or distributed by the registrant for 18 months, the Agency believes that no end users 
have used ODM on snap beans, field corn, popcorn, pears, and turnip commodities since 
1995. Therefore, EPA believes that existing stoc ks of end use product was exhausted years 
ago and that such ODM treated-snap beans, field corn, popcorn, pears, and turnip commodities passed through channels of trade l ong ago and that sufficient time has passed. 
Consequently, EPA is proposing to revoke the tolerances on bean, snap, succulent; bean, 
snap, forage; corn, grain; pear; turnip; and tu rnip, greens; all on the date of publication of 
the final rule. 
Based on available data that showed combin ed oxydemeton-methyl residues of concern as 
high as 0.9 ppm in or on corn forage, Agency is  proposing in to decrease the tolerance on 
corn, forage to 1.0 ppm and revise it to corn, sweet, forage. No tolerance on field corn 
forage is needed. 
Based on available data that showed combin ed oxydemeton-methyl residues of concern as 
high as 9.84 ppm in or on clover hay grown for seed, the Agency is proposing to decrease the tolerance on clover, hay, grown for seed to 10.0 ppm and revise it to clover, hay. 
Based on available data that showed combin ed oxydemeton-methyl residues of concern as 
high as 0.15 ppm in or on lima beans, 0.2 ppm in or on melons, less than 0.1 ppm in or on pumpkins, and less than 0.05 ppm in or on wal nuts, the Agency is proposing to decrease 
the tolerances on bean, lima to 0.2 ppm, cotton,  undelinted seed to 0.02 ppm, melon to 0.2 
ppm, pumpkin to 0.2 ppm, and walnut to 0.05 ppm. 
Based on available data that showed combin ed oxydemeton-methyl residues of concern as 
high as 1.22 ppm in or on cabbage, the Agency is proposing to increase the tolerance on 
cabbage to 2.0 ppm. The Agency determined that  the increased tolerance is safe; i.e., there 
is a reasonable certainty that no harm will r esult from aggregate exposure to the pesticide 
chemical residue. Also, because there is one active FIFRA section 24(c) registration for foliar use of oxydemeton-methyl on broccoli raab, EPA is proposing to establish a regional 
tolerance on broccoli raab at 2.0 ppm. 
Based on a poultry metabolism study at the 6x feeding level that showed no residues of 
toxicological concern in poultry commodities and an earlier poultry metabolism study that 
showed residues were present in eggs and tissues, the Agency is proposing to establish 
tolerances on egg; poultry, fat; poultry, mea t; and poultry, meat byproducts at 0.01 ppm. 
Also, EPA is proposing to revise commodity terminology conform to current Agency 
practice as follows: "alfalfa, green" to "alfalfa, forage", "alfalfa, hay, grown for seed" to "alfalfa, hay", "beet, sugar" to "beet, sugar, r oots", "corn, stover" to "corn, sweet, stover" 
(no tolerances are needed on field corn stover or popcorn stover) "mint, hay" to "peppermint, tops" and "spearmint, tops", "onion, dry bulb" to "onion, bulb", "orange, 
sweet" to "orange", "sorghum, forage" to "s orghum, forage, forage" and "sorghum, grain, 
forage", "sorghum, grain" to "sorghum, grain, grain". 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ X ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest  or disease, [ ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests     G/SPS/N/USA/1605 
 Page 3 
 
 
  8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[ ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [ ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [ ] International Plant Protection Convention, [ X ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the 
appropriate reference and briefly identify deviations:     
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Federal Register: 23 
May 2007 (Volume 72, Number 99) Proposed Rules Page 28912-28920; 
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2007/May/Day-23/p2561.htm 
10. Proposed date of adoption:   N/A 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  23 July 2007 
12. Final date for comments:  Comments must be received on or before 23 July 2007, and 
may be identified by docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0261. 
Agency or authority designated to handl e comments:  [ ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:   Registration Division, (7505P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001 
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notification authority, [ ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail add ress (if available) of other body:   United States 
SPS National Notification Authority, USDA Fore ign Agricultural Service, International 
Regulations and Standards Division (IRSD), St op 1027, Washington D.C. 20250;  Tel.:+(1 
202) 720-1301;  Fax: +(1 202) 69 0-0677;  E-mail: fstsd@fas.usda.gov