@ beepawHi Phillip,
All pesticides sold or used in the United States must be registered by EPA. At the time the "Registration Decision for the New Active Ingredient Oxalic Acid" was signed by Jack Housenger (2015), oxalic acid was not registered as a pesticide, as in don't use it as a pesticide because it is not registered as one. Pesticides need to be reregistered every 15 years, so although oxalic acid had been registered as a pesticide in the past, no one had registered it as a pesticide in the 15 years before Brushy Mountain applied.
https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/about-pesticide-registration
-Kevin
Thanks Kevin, reeding the report i understood this was required in the past. But back to the present, Since OA is now no longer considered a pesticide, as of 3/10/15 the date that Jack Housenger, Director Office of Pesticide Control. Signed the Registration Decision for the new Oxalic Acid, stating that OA is No longer classified as a pesticide. Does it still have to be registered as such (pesticide) in order to legally be labeled and sold for bee use? The best answer that I have read comes from iddee. He explained that (chemicals) have to labeled and used for what intention the label states. Off label is illegal. Notice he didn't say pesticide. So here we are again, since Brushy Mountain is apparently the only legal distributor of labeled for bee use OA, What now? What does the American beekeeper do to protect his or her bees from Varroa Mites without breaking the law? Thanks for your input Kevin.
Thanks, Phillip
Hi Phillip,
Hopefully, this clarifies:
In the present, if you are claiming (selling, using) almost
* any chemical as a pesticide then it must be registered. Pesticide registrations are not like patents. If a pesticide is not re-regestered with the EPA before its present registration expires, then it does not in any way mean the active ingredient no longer has to be registered if it is later used as a pesticide again. For example, if Bayer doesn't re-register Maxforce Impact Roach Gel Bait with the EPA in 2019, it does not mean that the EPA has decided that Clothianidin (the only active ingredient in that product) is no longer a pesticide. The active ingredient Clothianidin will always require registration.
The statement you cite from Jack Housenger is not being read in full context. The entire statement is:
"
Oxalic acid (CAS# 144-62-7) was previously registered as an antimicrobial pesticide and EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) issued a Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) in 1992. Although oxalic acid is no longer registered as a pesticide, OPP has data in-house that describes the human health effects of the compound, the environmental fate and ecotoxicology."
Oxalic acid used to be registered as a pesticide. The company that held the registration decided it did not want to spend the time and money on the re-registration process. In 1992 the EPA reviewed the information they already had on oxalic acid and decided that oxalic acid could be re-registered if someone wanted to do so. That re-registering company would not have to provide new toxicity data because the data the EPA already had was decided to be sufficient for future registration. Mr. Housenger is indicating that oxalic acid in this registration application does not have to go through the process as if it was an unknown, new active ingredient chemical; the data they have on file from the previous registration and the oxalic acid RED report are sufficient for them to make a decision on the current registration application.
The conclusion of his registration decision (2015): "
In cooperation with our regulatory partners in Canada, the evaluation of the application for registration of oxalic acid was completed as a work share. Considering the assessed risk to human health and the environment, the Agency concludes that oxlic acid meets the regulatory standard under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). There are no outstanding data requirements for oxalic acid. Therefore, the EPA is granting the unconditional registration of oxalic acide under Section 3(c)(5) of FIFRA."
Oxalic acid is a registered pesticide. What happens next legally, I don't know.
-Kevin
*There is one mechanism for an active ingredient chemical to be a pesticide and then not be a pesticide and that is inclusion on the EPA's "Minimum Risk Pesticides" list. Oxalic acid is not on that list.
