UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY AND 

POLLUTION PREVENTION 

MEMORANDUM 

Date: January 31, 2013 

SUBJECT: Ametryn: Review of Human Incidents 

PC Code: 080801 

Decision No.: 473109 

Petition No.: NA 

Risk Assessment Type: NA 

TXRNo.: NA 

MRID No.: NA 

DP Barcode: 04076.'1? 

Registration No.: NA 

Regulatory Action: NA 

Case No.: NA 

CAS No.: 834- 12-8 

40 CFR: NA 

FROM: Shanna Recore, Industrial Hygienist 

Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch 

Health Effect Division (7509P) 

and 

Elizabeth Evans, Environmental Protection Specialist 

Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch 

/ - Health Effect Division (7509P) a / ' , .?; ~ 

THROUGH: David J. Miller, Acting Branch Chief · · '.fi/J/~~$£1 Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch 

Health Effects Division (7509P) 

TO: Kelly Lowe, Risk Assessor 

Risk Assessment Branch I 

Health Effects Division (7509P) 

and 

Molly Clayton, Chemical Review Manager 

Risk Management & Implementation Branch 3 

Pesticide Re-evaluation Division (7508P) 

Summarv and Conclusions 

Ver.Apr.08 

No incidents were identified for ametryn in either IDS or 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. Ametryn 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 

Ametryn is an herbicide used to control broadleaf and grass weeds in fields planted with field 

corn, popcorn, pineapple, and sugarcane. 

For this evaluation, both 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 ametryn (PC Code: 080801 ). The 

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

the health effects attributed to ametryn exposure. 

In addition, findings from the AHS were reviewed. The Agricultural Health Study (AHS) is a 

high quality, prospective epidemiology study evaluating the link between pesticide use and 

various health outcomes including cancer. Ametryn 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 

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