| February 23, 2023 |
Pesticide Registration Notice (PR Notice) 2023-01
NOTICE TO MANUFACTURERS, FORMULATORS, PRODUCERS, REGISTRANTS AND APPLICATORS OF PESTICIDE PRODUCTS
ATTENTION:
Persons Responsible for Public Health Programs and Those Responsible for Registration of Pesticide Products
SUBJECT:
Lists of Pests of Significant Public Health Importance – Revised 2023
This notice updates and replaces PR Notice 2002-1, which identifies pests of significant public health importance. Section 28(d) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) requires the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in coordination with the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), to identify pests of significant public health importance and to develop and implement programs to improve and facilitate the safe and necessary use of chemical, biological and other methods to combat and control such pests of public health importance.
The lists were first published in 2002, fulfilling the requirement of FIFRA section to identify pests of significant public health importance. EPA, HHS and USDA believe that pests, diseases, and control techniques have changed since 2002. The lists provide an interagency baseline for the federal government and the public to begin any discussions on government regulation and control of disease or vectors of disease agents. EPA makes this information available, in part, to establish a platform for stakeholders, such as public health departments or pesticide registrants to prioritize their workloads and resource allocations. The Office of Pesticide Programs, EPA, coordinated the review by experts in public health and/or pesticide use patterns to compile these lists. No person is required to take any action in response to this notice.
The publication of these lists do not affect the regulatory status of any pesticide registration, pesticide registration exemption under FIFRA section 25(b), pesticide device, or application for registration of any pesticide product or device. These lists do not, by itself, determine whether a pesticide product might be considered a “public health pesticide” as that term is used in FIFRA. That term is defined in FIFRA section 2(nn); determining whether any specific pesticide is a public health pesticide is beyond the scope of this PR Notice.
The Agency has determined that the lists of pests of significant public health importance required under FIFRA section 28(d) can be established independently of the definition of “public health pesticide” in section 2(nn). EPA is interpreting the term “significant public health importance” broadly, to include pests that pose a widely recognized risk to considerable numbers of people.
I. BACKGROUND
FIFRA section 28(d) charges EPA with identifying “pests of significant public health importance.” FIFRA section 2(t) defines the term “pest” as meaning:
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