UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

## DEC 

## 202013

MEMORANDUM OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY AND POLLUTION PREVENTION

SUBJECT: BEAD Chemical Profile (BCP) for Registration Review: Thiabendazole Case (060101, 060102) FROM: Carl Chen, Biologist 

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- SepehrHaddad, Environmental Protection Specialist

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AndrewLee, Economist 

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Economic Analysis Branch 

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. Biological and Economic Analysis Division (7503P) THRU: Arnet Jones, Chief 

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-- Diann Sims, Chief 

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. Science Information and Analysis Branch**~** Timothy Kiely, Chief 

# Q}**~** Economic Analysis Branch Biological and Economic Analysis Div' 'on (7503P) TO: Ricardo Jones, Chemical Review Manager Pesticide Re-evaluation Division (7508P)



### Peer Review Panel date: September 4, 2013

Page 1 of8SUMMARY Thiabendazole is a fungicide first registered in the U.S. in 1969. Itis used to control some important soil-borne and postharvest diseases on commodities such as citrus, potatoes, mushrooms, soybeans, and wheat. The agricultural uses ofthiabendazole include seed treatments, and post-harvest uses. There used to be foliar uses, but these uses were associated with Special Local Need 24 (c) registrations and have all been canceled. The majority ofusage inpounds active ingredient (a.i); however, is from post-harvest use. Thiabendazole has been reported to control green mold and blue mold onpostharvest citrus fruits. The only nationally publicly available data are proprietary market information for seed treatment on spring wheat, soybeans and potatoes, and limited data for post-harvest potato use are available from the USDA. Eventhough it is not nationai data, the California Department ofPesticide Regulation (CDPR) also provides usage information for citrus and mushrooms which are the major crops in terms of pounds a.i. used. California is the primaryproducer offresh citrus in the U.S., and is second only to Pennsylvania in mushroom production inthe U.S. In2011, approximately 1.6 million tons oforanges were treated withthiabendazole in California. Itmust be noted that available non-agricultural usage data for thiabendazole are limited and dated (most recent data available is from 2005); however, the data did indicate relatively high usage as a biocide. The thiabendazole case for registration review includes another active ingredient, thiabendazole hypophosphite. Itis a furlgicide registered as a tree injection as a preventative treatment for Dutchelm disease and anthracnose. In 2011, thiabendazole hypophosphite was used for landscape maintenance in California. INTRODUCTION The Biological and Economic Analysis Division (BEAD) Chemical Profile (BCP) provides an overview ofthe pest management roles and quantitative usage information for thiabendazole (TBZ). The BCP includes summaries ofprevious BEAD products and available public and/or private use and usage data for thiabendazole to describe the role ofthis chemical in pest management. Additional information onuse is available in the thiabendazole PRD Label Data Report. This registration review case for thiabendazole and salts also includes another active ingredient, thiabendazole hypophosphite (PC Code: 060102). Information provided inthis BCP may be used by stakeholders.(e.g., users and registrants), OPP risk assessors, OPP risk managers, and the general public during the Registration Review process for this pesticide. · USE SITES THIABENDAZOLE: Agricultural Use Sites Thiabendazole registered agricultural use sites includes apples (postharvest), banana (postharvest), barley, beans (seedtreatment), carrots (postharvest), citrus fruits (postharvest), clover (seed treatment), com (field, sweet and pop) (seedtreatment), lentils, mangos (postharvest), mushrooms (soil, postharvest, and spawntreatment), ornamental bulbs and corms Page 

### 2 of8(dip treatment) papayas (postharvest), pears (postharvest), peas (seed treatment), plantain (postharvest), potatoes (seed treatment andpostharvest), sweetpotatoes (dip and seed treatment andpostharvest), soybeans (seed treatment), and wheat (seed treatment). Eventhough there are no U.S. registrations for avocados, cantaloupes, and strawberries, tolerances have been established for residues ofthiabendazole onthese crops. Tolerances for beets expired on 12/25/2010. Non-agricultural Use Sites Thiabendazole registered non-agricultural use sites includes adhesives, air filter materials, awnings, canvas products, boat covers, carpets, caulking compounds, coatings (aqueous, nonaqueous, andplastic), foam rubber, grouts, paints, paper and paperproducts, sealants, tarpaulins, tents, textiles and textile finishes, vinyl wall paperpastes, and wallboardjointcompounds. THIABENDAZOLE HYPOPHOSPHITE: Thiabendazole hypophosphite is registered as a tree injection for elm, oak and sycamore. In addition it is registered for aqditive treatmentto industrial adhesives, carpets, paints, and textiles. FORMULATIONS Thiabendazole is formulated as a ready-to-use, dusts, flowable concentrates, emulsifiable concentrates, wettable powders, granules, and water dispersible granules. Thiabendazole hypophosphite is formulated as a soluble concentrate/liquid. APPLICATION METHODS THIABENDAZOLE: Thiabendazole canbe applied by dipping, spraying, or application during the waxing procedure for fruits and vegetables. Seed treatments are applied with a ready-mix or slurry-mix. A readyto-use formulation is added

### t? paints, carpets, textiles and adhesives. Postharvest applications are made to the following: apples, bananas, carrots, citrus, mangos, mushrooms, papayas, pears, plantains, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Seed treatment applications are made to beans, clover, com, lentils, peas, potatoes, soybeans, sweetpotatoes, and wheat. THIABENDAZOLE HYPOPHOSPHITE: Thiabendazole hypophosphite is applied as an additive treatment and tree injection treatment. HISTORY OFTHIABENDAZOLE CASE AND BEAD PRODUCTS

Page 3 of8Thiabendazole is a fungicide first registered inthe U.S. in 1969. The Reregistration Eligibility Decision document (RED) was published in 2002. A Screening Level Usage Analysis (SLUA) was prepared by BEAD for this chemical in 2013 whichprovides percent crop treated for potatoes, soybeans, and wheat. Forthese three crops, the percent crop treated was for seed treatment withthiabendazole.and was quite low (less than 2.5%). Recently, section 18 requests for use on mushrooms by California, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania have been approved by OPP, which suggests value ofthiabendazole for this use. 

### USAGE THIABENDAZOLE: Agricultural Usage The agricultural uses ofthiabendazole include seed treatments and post-harvestuses. The majority ofusage inpounds active ingredient (a.i); however, is from post-harvestuse. The only national publicly available information onpost-harvest use is from the USDANational Agricultural Statistics**Servic~** (NASS) whichprovides datafor the 2005-2006 marketing year showingthat approximately 300 lbs. a.i. ofthiabendazole was usedto treat less than 1percent (0.6 percent) ofpostharvest potatoes before entering storage. (USDA, 2007). Eventhough it is not national data, the California Department ofPesticide Regulation (CDPR) also provides information for use on citrus and mushrooms which are the major crops in terms of pounds a.i. used. California is the primary producer offresh citrus in the U.S., and is second only to Pennsylvania in mushroom production inthe U.S. Dataare available for the years 2007- 2011 from CDPR as shown in Table 1, but the data does not differentiate betweenthe different application methods for mushrooms (i.e., soil, postharvest, or spawn treatment). 

### Table 1. 

### California Crops with Highest Use ofThiabendazole- TotalLbs. Applied (2007- 2011) 

### Crop 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Citrus 10,300 16,000 9,000 9,300 24,800 Mushrooms 5738 4,670 3,240 5,610 6,240 

### Source: CaliforniaDepartment ofPesticide Regulation 2007-2011 Seed Treatment Based onprivate market usage data from 2009-2011 (the only years for whichusage datahas been reported since the provider ofproprietary data started collecting data on seed treatments for soybeans beginning in 2006, and for spring wheat and potatoes in 2009), seed treatment usage averaged approximately 65 pounds active ingredient (a.i.) annually on approximately4400 acres treated. (Note: The acreage informationpresented inthis BCP is an estimate according to the proprietary dataprovider since farmers often do notknow ifthey planted a seedthathas been treated, so the dataprovider estimates usage based on seed brand/seedtrait that is planted). The Page 4 of8average a.i. rate for seed treatment overthe 2009-2011 time period was 0.015 pounds a.i./acre. The major agricultural seed treatment use ofthiabendazole between 2009-2011 was on spring wheat in Idaho, followed byuse on soybeans in Illinois and use onpotatoes in Wisconsin (Proprietary Data, 2009-2011). Non-Agricultural Usage Available non-agricultural usage data for thiabendazole are limited and dated. USDA'sNASS Nursery and Floriculture Summary for 2004 shows 1,300 lbs used with a rate of2.18 lbs. a.i./A while the 2006 summary shows 4,000 lbs used with a rate ofapproximately 1.67 lbs. a.i./ A. Other reported non-agricultural data is from Kline & Co. for the years 2004 for landscaping at approximately 100 lbs a.i., and in 2006 for landscaping at approximately 3,000 lbs. a.i. and for golfcourses at approximately 9600 lbs. a.i. (Kline & Company, 2004, 2006). According to Kline, thiabendazole is also used as a biocide for adhesives and sealants, with approximately 355,000 lbs used in 2005. THIABENDAZOLE HYPOPHOSPHITE: There is very limited usage datafor thiabendazole hypophosphite. The only data available indicates less than 100 pounqs ofthiabendazole hypophosphite was used in California for landscape maintenance in 2011 (PUR, 2011). 

### CHEMICAL AND USE CHARACTERISTICS THIABENDAZOLE: Thiabendazole is a systemic fungicide. Ithas beenregistered to control some important plant diseases including seed-borne and early season seedlingpod and stem blight on soybean and commonbunt (stinking smut) and Fusarium scab onwheat. Itis registered to control postharvest fungal diseases such as Fusarium tuber rot onpotatoes and blue mold (Penicillium digitatum), green mold (P. italicum) and stem endrot (Diplodia natalensis) oncitrus fruit. It currently also has otherregistered uses such as controlling Fusariumbasal rot and Penicillium blue mold onornamental bulbs and corms, and dry bubble, wet bubble, cobweb, and green mold onmushrooms. Resistance is a concern inthe use ofthiabendazole. The chemical belongs to the group ofmethyl benzimidazole carbamates (MBC) classified bythe Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC) and coded as FRAC group 1 with a high risk ofresistance development (FRAC, 2013). Resistance to MBC fungicides is commonin many fungal species. Iftreatment is not effective following use ofthiabendazole, the label instructs a promptuse ofother suitable nonbenzimidazole fungicides. Other labeled disease and resistance management considerations include one application only, associated with seed treatment and postharvesttreatment. THIABENDAZOLE HYPOPHOSPHITE:

Page 5 of8Thiabendazole hypophosphite is also a systemic fungicide. Itis injected intree trucks as a preventative treatment. Thehighest label dosage ofArbortect 20S® canbe successfully used on a 2-3 yearrotationto protect high value elms from Dutch elmdisease for 15 years (Haugen and Stennes, 1999). Thiabendazole hypophosphite is currently registered to control Dutchelm disease and sycamore/oak anthracnose. ROLE OF THIABENDAZOLE AND THIABENDAZOLE HYPOPHOSPHITE IN PEST MANAGEMENT THIABENDAZOLE: The largest and most important use ofthiabendazole is oncitrus. Approximately 6.7 billion pounds ofcitrus fruits were treated withthiabendazole in 2011 in California (PUR, 2011). The othermost significant use ofthiabendazole is non-agricultural as a biocide with approximately 355,000 pounds ofactive ingredient used in 2005 (Kline & Company, 2005). Thiabendazole has played a significant role in postharvest disease control ofvaluable citrus commodities such as oranges and lemons. Ithas beenrecommended as a direct applicationto fruit to control green and blue mold underpostharvest conditions (California Citrus Profile, 2003). In 2011, thiabendazole was usedto treat citrus fruits including approximately 1.6 million tons oforange in California (PUR, 2011). The primary end-product ofcitrus grown in California is the fresh-market, 82% for oranges compared to 5% in Florida (California Citrus Profile, 2003). Californiaproduces 80% ofthe United States lemons, approximately 700,000 tons in 2002 (California Citrus Profile, 2003), andthiabendazole was used on approximately 680,000 tons of lemon fruit in 2011 (PUR, 2011). Thiabendazole has played a role in control ofpotato postharvest diseases. Itis recommended for use as a postharvest treatment to control Fusariumtuber rot (Wisconsin Potato Profile, 2000). In the 2005-06 marketing year, thiabendazole and fludioxonil were two main fungicides listed in the report treating 0.6% and 0.1% ofpostharvestpotatoes inthe United States, respectively (USDA, 2007). California is second onlyto Pennsylvania in mushroom production and produces 17% ofthe mushrooms grown inthe United States on22.8 million square feet ofbeds in 1997 (California Mushroom Profile, 1999). In the 2011-12 marketing year, Californiamushroom area interms of total fillings was approximately 20.5 million square feet (USDA, 2013). Thiabendazole was used to treat approximately 21.1 million square feet in 2011 (PUR, 2011) and, therefore, has played a significant role for control ofmushroom diseases in California. Fungicide treatment ofwheat seed is a very important practice to prevent seed borne diseases causing economic loss (Idaho Wheat Profile, 2000), and thiabendazole was used for seed treatment in Idaho (Proprietary Data, 2010). Pesticide treatment ofsoybean seed is a widely used pestmanagement practice and thiabendazole was used for soybean seedtreatment in Illinois (Proprietary Data, 2009). Although acreage treated is low, thiabendazole remains a fungicide alternative in seed treatment ofcertain crops in certain regions.

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### 6 of8Thiabendazole has also been·used under emergency exemptions through Section 18 ofthe Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) in several states. Itwas needed to control blackleg on Brussels sprout, cabbage, and cauliflower in California and Washington and Aschochytablight on lentil in Idaho, Oregon,**Montan~,** North Dakota, and Washington. THIABENDAZOLE HYPOPHOSPHITE: Thiabendazole hypophosphite is registered for disease prevention oftrees such as elms, sycamores, and oaks. The label recommends that thiabendazole hypophosphite be administered bytrained arborists or others trained in injectiontechniques and inthe identification ofdiseases to provide protection up to three years before reapplication is needed. Ithas beenreported that thiabendazole hypophosphite was used for landscape maintenance in California (PUR, 2011). DATANEEDS The Agency currently does not have important information onthiabendazole related to certain uses. Obtaining the following information may improve future assessments conducted bythe Agency related to the use and importance ofthiabendazole. Post-harvest agricultural use in terms ofpounds a.i. and application rates for the crops mentioned in the BCP. Non-agricultural usage dataonthe sites mentioned in this BCP such as: adhesives, air filter materials, awnings, canvas products, boat covers, carpets, caulking compounds, coatings (aqueous, non-aqueous, and plastic), foam rubber, grouts, paints, paper and paperproducts, sealants, tarpaulins, tents, textiles and textile finishes, vinyl wall paper pastes, and wallboardjointcompounds. Usage data for thiabendazole hypophosphite.

REFERENCES

Page 7 of8BEAD, 2013. Thiabendazole Screening Level Usage Analysis. Biological and Economic Analysis Division, Office ofPesticide Programs, US Environmental Protection Agency. February 22. California Citrus Profile. 2003. Crop Profile

- Citrus in California. California Citrus Quality Council; Citrus Research Board. http://www.calcitrusquality.org/cropprofile/e6adefdc-0694- 44e1-95b2-df5c6314eeed.pdf. California Mushroom Profile,. 1999. Crop Profile for Mushrooms in California. http://www.ipmcenters.org/cropprofiles/docs/camushrooms.pdfaccessed August 2013. California Department ofPesticide Regulation, Annual Statewide Pesticide Use Report. 2007- 2011. FIFRA. 2008. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act [As Amended ThroughP.L. 110-246, Effective May 22, 2008]. http://www.epa.gov/opprd001/registrationmanual/FIFRA.pdf FRAC. 2013. Fungicide Resistance Action Committee. http://www.frac.info/frac/index.htm accessed July 2013.Idaho Wheat Profile, 2000. http:/ /www.ipmcenters.org/cropprofiles/docs/IDwheat.pdfaccessed July 2013. Haugen L, Stennes M. 1999. Fungicide injection to control Dutch elm disease: Understanding the options. Plant Diagnosticians Quarterly 20 (2):29-38. Idaho Wheat Profile, 2000. http://www.ipmcenters.org/cropprofiles/docs/IDwheat.pdfaccessed July 2013. Kline & Co. 2004-2006. Proprietary Data. 2009-2011. (pesticide usage data) PUR, 2011. Summary ofPesticide Use Report Data- 2011. CaliforniaEnvironmental Protection Agency Department ofPesticide Regulation. P.O. Box 4015. Sacramento, CA 95812-4015. USDANASS, Nursery and Floriculture Summary 2004,2007. USDA, 2007. Potato Postharvest Chemical Usage in 2005-06 Marketing Year. http://www.nass.usda.gov /Statistics_ by_State/Idaho/Publications/Special_ Reports/pdf/Idaho%20 Potatoes%20Chem%20Use.pdfaccessed July 2013. USDA, 2013. Mushrooms. National Agricultural Statistics Service. Agricultural Statistics Board. USDA. http:/ /usdaO 1.library.cornell.edu/usda/ current/Mush/Mush-08-20-2013.pdfaccessed August 2013.

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