UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY AND 

POLLUTION PREVENTION 

MEMORANDUM 

Date: May 15,2013 

SUBJECT: Telone (1,3-D): Review ofHuman Incidents 

PC Code: 02900 I 

Decision No.: 476422 

Petition No.: NA 

DP Barcode: 0411762 

Registration No.: NA 

Regulatory Action: NA 

Risk Assessment Type: NA Case No.:NA 

TXRNo.:NA 

MRIDNo.: NA 

CAS No.: 542-75-6, 10061-01-5, 10061-02-6 

40CFR: NA 

Ver.Apr.08 

FROM: Elizabeth Evans, Environmental Protection Specialist ,

Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch Cf_/ 1

y· ~0 .M 

I"'"" {~ 

Health Effects Division (7509P) 

and 

Shanna Recore, Industrial Hygienist 

Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch 

Health Effects Division (7509P) 

THROUGH: David J. Miller, Acting Branch Chief ,U,J /lt..IA 

Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch 

Health Effects Division (7509P) 

TO: ldeliz Negron-Encarnacion, Risk Assessor 

Risk Assessment Branch VII 

Health Effects Division (7509P) 

and 

Andrea Mojica, Chemical Review Manager 

Risk Management & Implementation Branch IV 

Pesticide Reevaluation Division (7508P) 

Summary and Conclusions 

Based on the low frequency and severity of incident cases reported for Tel one in both IDS and 

NIOSH SENSOR-Pesticides, there does not appear to be a concern at this time that would 

warrant further investigation. The Agency will continue to monitor the incident information and 

if a concern is triggered, additional analysis will be included in the risk assessment. 

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The Agricultural Health Study (AHS) is also a potential source of information associated with 

human health effects associated with certain pesticides. Telone is not included in the AHS, and 

therefore this study does not provide information for this report. 

Detailed Review 

I. ACTION REQUESTED 

This review is intended to fulfill our requirement to docket summaries of incident data that were 

reported to the Agency, as well as to ensure human incident data and the Agricultural Health 

Study (AHS) are part of the problem formulation phase of registration review. Reports of 

adverse health effects allegedly due to a specific pesticide exposure (i.e., an "incident") are 

largely self-reported and therefore, generally speaking, neither exposure to a pesticide or 

reported symptom (or the connection between the two) is validated or otherwise confirmed. 

Typically, causation cannot be determined based on incident data. However, incident 

information can be an important source of feedback to the Agency: incidents of severe outcome, 

or a suggested pattern or trend among less severe incidents, can signal the Agency to further 

investigate a particular chemical or product. Observational epidemiology studies relate the risk 

of disease, e.g., cancer, and exposure to an agent such as a pesticide product in the general 

population or specific sub-groups like pesticide applicators. 

II. BACKGROUND 

Telone (1 ,3-D) is a nematicide/fungicide/insecticide/herbicide registered for preplant application 

to terrestrial food crop (field and vegetable crop and orchard crop) and terrestrial nonfood 

(nursery stock and tobacco) use sites. Tel one is a Restricted Use Pesticide (RUP). 

For this evaluation, both the OPP Incident Data System (IDS) and the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) 

Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk-Pesticides (SENSOR) databases were 

consulted for pesticide incident data on the active ingredient tel one (pc code: 029001 ). The 

purpose of the database search is to identify potential patterns in the frequency and severity of 

the health effects attributed to telone exposure. Telone is not included in the AHS, and therefore 

this study does not provide information for this report. 

III. RESULTS/DISCUSSION 

a. IDS (Incident Data System) 

OPP's IDS includes reports of alleged human health incidents from various sources, including 

mandatory Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Section 6(a)(2) reports 

from registrants, other federal and state health and environmental agencies, and individual 

consumers. Since 1992, OPP has compiled these reports in IDS. IDS contains reports from 

across the U.S. and most incidents have all relevant product information recorded. Reports 

submitted to the IDS represent anecdotal reports or allegations only, unless otherwise stated in 

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the report. It should be noted there are three incidents reported as lawsuits to IDS that are not 

considered in this report. 

IDS records incidents in one of two modules: Main IDS and Aggregate IDS: 

o Main IDS contains incidents resulting in higher severity outcomes and provides 

more detail with regard to case specifics. This system stores incident data for 

death, major and moderate incidents, and it includes information about the 

location, date and nature of the incident. Main IDS incidents involving only one 

active ingredient (as opposed to pesticide products with multiple active 

ingredients) are considered to provide more certain information about the 

potential effects of exposure from the pesticide. 

o Aggregate IDS contains incidents resulting in less severe human incidents (minor, 

unknown, or no effects outcomes). These are reported by registrants only as 

counts in what are aggregate summaries. 

For the Main IDS, from January 1, 2008 to February 19, 2013, there were 5 incidents reported 

for single chemical only in the database1

. One incident, an allergic reaction that was classified as 

major severity because it involved a severe allergic reaction, although this was determined to be 

a reaction to a prescription and not the pesticide (further described in Table 1). However, this 

incident does not appear to be related to the implicated product. The case's physician diagnosed 

him with an allergic reaction to new blood pressure medication. Three of the other incidents 

were classified as moderate severity and one was classified as minor severity. These cases 

reported respiratory effects (2 cases), eye irritation (2 cases), and an infection to a lacerated 

finger following telone exposure (1 case). Symptoms are not mutually exclusive and several 

symptoms may be reported in one incident. There were 7 additional incidents reported involving 

more than one chemical. Overall, there are few incidents involving telone reported to IDS. 

In Aggregate IDS, from January 1, 2008 to February 19, 2013, there were 20 reported incidents 

involving telone. These incidents were classified as minor severity. 

T a bl e a 1 M m . IDS M aJor . I nc1 'd ents £ or th e smgJe c h em1ca IT e I one 

Human Incident C hemical: Telone I PC Code: 02900 I 

Incident Exposure 

Package Incident Reg Severity 

Report Date Location Number Product Name Codes Incident Description 

A 74 year old male lives near a golf 

course that was spraying product; 

021148 Orlando, 062719- CURFEW SOIL however, the MD ruled out any 

1/ 1/2009 HB involvement with the product. The male 

-00003 FL 00032 FUMIGANT 

was having a severe allergic reaction 

(anaphylaxis) to a new blood pressure 

medication that he recently started taking. 

1 There was also one moderate incident reported that occurred in Australia. Foreign incidents are not reviewed in 

detail because of the potential differences in the exposure patterns, use practices, and product formulation. 

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*HB-Human Major (if the person alleged or exhibited symptoms which may have been life-threatening, or resulted in adverse 

reproductive effects or in residual disability) 

b. SENSOR-Pesticides 

The SENSOR-Pesticides database covers 11 states from 1998-2009, although reporting varies 

from state to state. Cases of pesticide-related illnesses are ascertained from a variety of sources, 

including: reports from local Poison Control Centers, state Department of Labor workers' 

compensation claims when reported by physicians, reports from State Departments of 

Agriculture, and physician reports to state Departments of Health. Although both occupational 

and non-occupational incidents are included in the database, SENSOR-Pesticides focuses on 

occupational pesticide incidents, and is of particular value in providing that information. The 

state coordinator at each of the 11 respective state Departments of Health conducts case followup activities such as obtaining medical records to verify symptoms and severity. Using 

standardized protocol and case definitions derived from poison center reporting, the state 

SENSOR-Pesticide coordinator enters the incident information into the state-based system which 

is sent to NIOSH annually to be aggregated. 

A query of SENSOR-Pesticides 1998-2009 finds a total of 18 cases, stemming from ten events, 

involving Telone (pc code 029001). Twelve of these cases involved a single active ingredient 

and six involved multiple active ingredients. Of these 18 cases, 15 were low in severity, one was 

moderate in severity and two were high in severity. One high severity cases occurred in 

Washington in 2008 and involved a railroad switchman who was transporting Telone C-17 

(active ingredients include both chloropicrin and telone). Two other cases (low and moderate in 

severity) were exposed during this event. The second high severity case occurred in North 

Carolina in 2008 and involved Telone C-35 (active ingredients include both chloropicrin and 

telone). In this case, a private applicator was trying to unclog disconnected lines on a fumigator 

rig and was splashed in the eyes. 

Six cases were reported following one drift/volatilization2 event that occurred in Florida in 2006 

in which a pesticide application made to a golf course drifted onto a residential area. All 6 cases 

were low in severity. 

Reported health effects are summarized in the Table 2. 

Table 2. SENSOR-Pesticides 1998-2009: Reported 

Health Effects for Telone Cases 

Health Effect # of Occurrences 

Dermal 1 

Ocular 8 

2 The SENSOR-Pesticides program defmes drift as" ... the movement of pesticides away from the treatment site. The 

pesticide spray, mist, fumes, or odor are carried from the target site by air." There is no clear distinction between 

cases exposed from volatilization versus spray drift when analyzing the SENSOR-Pesticides data. 

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Respiratory 9 

Gastrointestinal 9 

Renal 0 

Nervous System 15 

Cardiovascular 2 

Misc. 2 

* Cases may report: multiple health effects 

c. Agricultural Health Study (AHS) 

The AHS is a high quality, prospective epidemiology study evaluating the link between pesticide 

use and various health outcomes including cancer. The AHS includes private and commercial 

pesticide applicators and their spouses. If there are AHS findings relevant to a particular 

pesticide going through registration review, the Agency will ensure they are considered in the 

problem formulation/scoping phase of the process and, if appropriate, fully reviewed in the risk 

assessment phase of the process. The AHS includes information on use of 50 different pesticide 

active ingredients commonly used in agriculture. Telone is not included in the AHS, and 

therefore this study does not provide information for this report. 

IV. CONCLUSION 

Based on the low frequency and severity of incident cases reported for Telone in both IDS and 

SENSOR-Pesticides, there does not appear to be a concern at this time that would warrant further 

investigation. The Agency will continue to monitor the incident information and if a concern is 

triggered, additional analysis will be included in the risk assessment. 

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