37 -- Solicitation of interest involving testing of technologies for reducing the spray drift of pesticides

EPA is seeking vendors of technology for reducing pesticide spray drift (drift reduction technology or DRT) to participate in a pilot project to validate a protocol for testing the effectiveness of DRT. Specifically EPA is seeking drift-reduction application equipment or drift-reduction adjuvant chemicals that can be used with ground-boom or aerial equipment for spraying pesticides onto row or field crops and that can be tested in a low- or high-speed wind tunnel. After the test protocols have been validated, manufacturers of DRT will have the opportunity to participate in an industry-funded Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program conducted in partnership with EPA. The purpose of this program is to verify the risk-reduction potential of the tested technologies. EPA included DRT in the ETV program because DRT has the potential to reduce pesticide risks to humans and the environment by reducing pesticide exposure to non-target organisms. A description of this program is available on EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/etv/este/600etv06036.pdf. EPA drafted a test protocol for evaluating DRT and, consistent with ETV policy, shared it with a stakeholder technical panel (STP) for review and comment. The protocol is available from Mike Koksusko (see contact information below. EPA will select 2-3 ground application technologies for validating the protocol for the low-speed wind tunnel test and 2-3 aerial application technologies for validating the protocol for the high speed wind tunnel test. If more than 4 candidate technologies are offered for testing, EPA will select test candidates on the basis of the following criteria: 1) Expectation of effectiveness, as shown by data or scientific principles; 2) Likelihood of consumer acceptance based on ease of use or cost; 3) Likely magnitude of use based on its possible use on major crops or possible market penetration. Although these numbers are small, they are sufficient to validate the protocol. EPA will select vendors within 30 days of the response date for this notice. EPA will notify any vendors not selected for this pilot project of opportunities to verify their DRT in the ETV program. EPA expects to conduct protocol validation for about one month, beginning in the early fall and will release the final protocol in early 2008. When EPA issues its report of this pilot project, it will identify the technologies used to validate the test protocol. For more infomation contact: Michael Kosusko, ETV/ESTE DRT Project Officer; [email protected]; (919) 541-2734; Fax: (919) 541 0359.