UNITED STATES ENVIR ONMENTAL PROTE CTION AGENCY**AS IG** **N,** D

. C

. 20460 

### M

A

R 2 9 2011

OFF ICE OF C HEMICAL SAFETY AND POL LU TIO N PREVE NTION 

### MEMORANDUM SUB JEC T:

F RO M :

T HRU :

T O: B EAD Re s ponse t o the C ali f ornia G rape and Tre e Fruit Lea gue (Le ague) Regarding th e A gency 's A c t ion to D i s continue M ethom yl Use o n T a ble Grap es ( PC C o d e 0 90 3 01) Jih ad Al sad ek, E conomi s t 

# , ,;r:; l-.--fA-c 

# ISc ience I nformation & A nal ysis Branch M oni sh a Ka ul , Bi ologi st 

# f Y 7 o tu!J fvU C o lwell Coo k , Ent omologi s:

### '..- B iological A naly sis Bran ch Bio logical and E conomic An alys is Di vi si on (75 03P) D iann S ims , C h ie f

# ~~ Sc ience Information & A n alys is Branch 

### ' ) Arnet J ones , Chief / 1 

### B iolo gical Analy sis

# r~ Biological and Ec onomic A n alysi ivi s ion (7503P)
T om M ye rs, T e am Lea der Ri s k Ma nagement and Imple mentation Bran ch II P e st icide Re- Ev aluation D iv is io n (750 8P)

The m ethomyl registration re view o pened S e pt e m b er 20 10 w ith a 6 0-day public co mment peri od
. D uring that tim e th e C alif o rni a G rape s & Tree Fruit Le ague ( League) s ubmitt e d a document w ith que stion s an d c omments th at th e Ag e ncy i s c urrently addr e s sing
. Th i s memorandum c ontain s B EAD's re sp onse t o the Lea gue ' s i ssue s re garding the c ancellation o f methomyl o n gr ape s; co ncern s ab o ut the u se o f a lternati ves o f methom yl o n gra pe s for a ll varie tie s o f grape s co mbine d ( Kaul and Wy a tt, 200 6 ) ; th e u s e of m ethomyl on grape s , as rep orted i n th e S creening Level Us age An a l y sis (S L UA ) ; an d th e p ounds o f me thomy I u sed o n table g rape s in C a liforni a . b etw e en 2002- 20 08.



### 1L ea gue C o mm ents: BEAD ' s 2 006 Alternatives A ssessment did not obta in ad equate in put fr om the Ca lif ornia t able g rape indu stry to s ufficiently identify ap pro priate pes ts of California ta ble g ra pes . Meth omyl is used f or tw o insec t p e st s o mittedfro m K aul a nd W ya tt, (2006) : Pl anococcus fi cus a nd Lat ro dectus H esper l f §"
. BE ADIBAB Response : Th e May 1 7 , 200 6 "A lternatives Ass essment for Me thomy l o n G rapes " was for a ll g rape s (r aisin, t able , and w ine) n ationwide, and th er ef ore , did n ot focu s on a nyo ne type of g rape (Kaul and Wya tt ( 2006)
. Inf ormation was obtained f rom th e pub licl y av ailab l e c rop profile s and p est management s trateg ic p lan s av ailab le o n the Int egrated Pe st M anagement C enters w ebsite**tt //** **www c e** **J)** Th e C rop Pr ofile for G rapes ( Table) in Ca lifornia, ref er enced in K au l and W ya tt ( 2006), w as p roduced b y un iversity re searchers , I PM advi s ors, grow ers, a nd a mem ber o f the Ca l ifornia T ab l e G rape C ommission u nd e r th e name "California Grape A dvi so ry Tea m." A s ubsequent an a l ysis " R ev iew of Pr opose d Labe l C hanges and Use Patt erns for Methom y l Us e o n Gr ap es" w as c ondu cted in 2008 that i nclud ed in f ormati on o n California tabl e grape s o btained from in dustry input , s pecifica lly from M arcy M artin (o f the l eague) in c omm unic ation s with B EAD ( Kaul, 2 008). In th e 20 08 BEA D re vi ew , two add iti ona l pe sts (v ine mea l ybug an d b lack w idow s pider ) o f c oncern and their co ntrol pra c t ic e s s pecific to C alifornia tabl e gr apes we re c on sider ed , whi ch we re tho se id entified b y the Lea gue as o mitted from BE AD ' s 2006 asse ss ment. A dditional p e st information sp e cific to C a l ifornia t able g rapes s ubmitted in s upport of an e mergency e xemption requ est in 2 0m : was a lso c onsidered in B EAD's 2008 m eth om yl a na lys i s. L ea gue C omm ents : "The Methomyl Sc r eening Level Usage A nalysis (SL U A ) identifies a s creening level es timate on gra pes to be b a sed on 2 0,000 p o und s of a ctive ingre dient ann ually, w ith the a verage of less tha n 2 .5 pe rcent to 5 percent af the cr op t reated an nually
. It appe ars the Agency has d etermin ed tha t a ll usage is table g rape u sage , and that the t reat ed a creage is gre ater th an 

### 5 pe rcent . H ow did the agenc y m ake this d etermination ? "



### " II hh Tb S S BIULU TR 

### E B ADI IA espo nse: 

### e LUA so ws t es e va ue s or a ll g apes 

### Crop Lb s . A. !. 

### PCT Ava. P CT Max. Gra ces 20, 000 <2 .5 5 Th e dat a are f or a ll types o f grap e s (ta ble, rai s in s a nd w ine) and not for ta ble gr apes o n ly. Th e 2 0 , 000 lb s . A. !. ar e th e av erage annual pou nd s of m e th o m y I appl ied o n g rapes ( 2001 -2 008)
. Th is includes a ll th e s urveyed s tates and i s n ati onal in s cope . The ave rage valu e o f < 2.5 % i s th e av erage perc ent c rop treated w ith m ethomy l f or a ll g rapes co mbined, a nd th e m aximum va lue of 5 % i s th e maximum p ercent c rop tr eated a cross 20 01-2008 . The data are fro m two u sag e dat a so urces f or the Ag ency : The U nited S tates D epartme n t o f Agr icult ure's N ationa l Ag ricultura l S tatistics Se rvice (US DA/NASS) and G fK Ky nete c . The abo ve reported S LUA v a l ues ar e ca lcu la ted b y merging p es ticide u sage dat a s ources, av eraging a cross all o bservations, then ro unding. The a v era ge v alue « 2.5%) is use d f or c hronic ri sk anal ysis and th e m aximum v alue , the highe st o f a ll ob servat i ons ( 2001-2 008) i s u sed for the a cute r isk assess ment.

2BEAD c hecked th e a vailab le data fo r table gr ap e s o nly and u sed the s ame met hodology to c alculate a ve rage ann u al pound s u s ed, average pe rcent and max imum percent of metho my l u s ed o n t able grapes . T he data s h ow the annua l a verage usage o f me th o m yl on tab le g rape s i s about 1 4 , 000 pou nd s . T he ave rage percent of t abl e grape s treated wit h methom y l i s 13 percent an d th e maximum acrea ge treated for tab le grape s i s 2 8 p ercent. Leag ue Comm ents : " Cal if orn ia' s Depa rtment o f Pest icid e R egulation A nnual S tatewide Use Summa ry co mbines b oth g rape and raisin u s age when rep on ing to tal c hemical a pplications and a cres t reated. In co nfirming th is inf ormaticn w e review ed the a nnual pounds a p

plie df or labl e a nd raisin g ra pes wi thin the s tatewide s umr.l ary ; be tv ..ee n 2002 -2008. the 

### 5 ye ar ann ual a verage is 15 ,./

82 po unds , w hich is sig nificantly l ess tha n what th e Age ncy has identified abo ve. " BEAD /SIAB IUL UT Respons e: Calif ornia ' s D epartment o f Pesticide Re gulation Annual State wide Use S ummary report s the annu al pounds fo r grape s ( table g rapes and rai sin g rapes c ombined ) an d wine gra pes ( Cal DPR, 2 00"

-200 8 )
. Th e a vailable d ata fo r the period 2 002 -2 008 s howed a 5 ye ar avera ge o f 15,88 3 pound s f o r gra pes a nd 4 , 293 pound s fo r wi ne g rapes whi ch i s about 2 0.000 pound s f or bo th. In additi on Ca liforn ia d ata are o nly f o r o ne s tate and the SL UA d ata are n ational in s cope. BEAD 's valu e d oes not differ s ig n ifican t ly fro m the league 's va lue
. Ref ere nces: Kaul, M
. and T.1
. Wya tt, 2006 .Altema tiv es A ssessme nt f o r Me thomy l o n G rapes, D P # 321899 , Un p ublis hed EPA d oc ument. Ka ul , M2008
. Review o f Propo se d Label Ch an ges and Us e Pattern s fo r Met homyl Us e on G rapes, DP # 3 53390. U n p ub l ishe d EPA d ocu ment. B EAD Sc reenin g Leve l Us age A nalysis (S LUA)
. Sc reening Lev el Es ti ma t es of Agri cultural U ses o f Me thomyl, P C C o de 0 90301 , Octobe r 1 9 , 20 09
. Unpubli s hed E PA doc ument. C a l D PR , 20 02-2008
. Usa ge D ata f or G rape s, b oth t able a nd rai s in s , and Win e G rape s, http :/ /www .cdpr. ca.gov /d ocs/pur /punnain .h tm

3