This document presents the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs or the Agencys) decision regarding the reregistration eligibility of the registered uses of the active ingredient nicotine. The Agency conducted human health and environmental fate and effects risk assessments for nicotine non-food uses. The registrant of the sole remaining nicotine pesticide product requested the cancellation of its registration on February 25, 2008, to be effective on December 31, 2013, with existing stocks permitted to be sold by dealers and distributors for one additional year. The Agency has accepted this request in concept, and it is subject to notice and public comment. If public comment provides no information that causes the Agency to reconsider, the Agency may accept the cancellation request.
The assessment of risks for the pesticidal use of nicotine is unique in that much of the supporting data is drawn from the open literature, as opposed to studies conducted according to Agency guidelines, and the data that are available are not entirely wellmatched to anticipated routes of exposure and use patterns for the nicotine pesticide. The lack of more relevant data adds considerable uncertainty to the risk assessment and would necessitate that the Agency call-in data from a range of guideline studies. Ultimately, the process the Agency undertook to assess risks and formulate reregistration eligibility decisions was overtaken by the registrants request for cancellation. The Agency is finalizing this reregistration eligibility decision as a record of the database and methodologies that were used to assess nicotine and the Agencys preliminary conclusions about the risks associated with its use.
The sole remaining nicotine registration, for which cancellation has been requested, is a Restricted Use Pesticide used on greenhouse ornamentals, including poinsettias, bedding plants, and chrysanthemums to control whiteflies, aphids, and
thrips. Nicotine has been known for its pesticidal properties for centuries, and came into common use in the U.S. about sixty years ago. Production and usage are now quite limited.
Using the limited available data, EPA has assessed the human health risks for the remaining nicotine registration and has concluded that risks for workers both during and after application, and for consumers of plants from treated greenhouses and members of the public who might be exposed to nicotine residues in treated greenhouses, are potentially of concern. Nicotine is not used on any food and feed crops so dietary risks have not been assessed. Because nicotine is used in greenhouses only, drinking water and ecological risks were not assessed for this use pattern, although the Agency did assess the ecological risks associated with another nicotine product used outdoors to repel vertebrate pests of ornamentals which has since been cancelled. The ecological risk assessment and an assessment of episodic ingestion of the nicotine repellant product are posted to the nicotine docket, as are the technical documents supporting the human health risk assessment for the nicotine greenhouse use.
