EPA Proposes Rule to Improve Pesticide Crop Groupings

On Tuesday, the EPA opened a 60-day comment period requesting public comments on the sixth proposed rule in a series of revisions to the pesticide crop grouping regulations. Crop groups are established when residue data for certain representative crops are used to establish pesticide tolerances for a group of crops that are botanically or taxonomically related. EPA sets these tolerances, which are the maximum amount of a pesticide allowed to remain in or on a food, as part of regulating pesticides.

Specifically, EPA is proposing to amend Crop Group 6: Legume Vegetables; Group 7: Foliage of Legume Vegetables; Group 15: Cereal Grains; and Group 16: Forage, Fodder, and Straw of Cereal Grains. The proposed rule includes changes to the terminology in the names of Groups 6, 7 and 16, and the addition of commodities and modifications that increase efficiencies in assessing the risks of pesticides used on crops grown in and outside of the United States.

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