Intermediate / Advanced Registration / Re-Evaluation Course

[NaepcA1]

We invite you to participate in the 2012 Pesticide Regulatory Education Program: Intermediate/Advanced Registration / Re-Evaluation Course that will be held Monday-Thursday, July 16-19, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency-Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. This four-day course is offered by UC Davis Extension with funding provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The goal of this course is for participants to come away with a fuller understanding of the process for registering and re-evaluating pesticides at the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), and how OPP makes registration decisions, with emphasis on how risk management decisions are incorporated into the label. This unique venue (across the street from OPP) will allow for greater participation by the various divisions in OPP and allow for a broader range of topics to be covered. Addressing and exploring federal and state registration matters together encourages a collaborative approach to resolving emerging issues of importance to the national pesticide program.
Topics for this year’s course may include:
•Hands-on problem-solving session(s) on major/hot issues;
•Pesticide product registration: process (internal and public) and data requirements;
•Risk assessment to risk management to the label;
•Assessing risk to ESA and screening pesticides for endocrine effects;
•Section 18 and 24(c): Review process and state/federal authorities;
•Section 25(b)s and “wanna-(b)s”: questions, questions, questions;

•Labeling/mislabeling issues and exploring resolutions (SLITS and “reverse” SLITS);

•Compliance/enforcement issues; and

•Visit OPP/OECA and management/staff.
This course is intended for experienced registration specialists/managers (working titles vary) who are responsible for pesticide product registration in their own jurisdictions and who have direct responsibility for:
•State/territory pesticide product registration actions or decisions (under both state and federal authority)
•Applying for Section 18 emergency exemptions
This course is not intended for new registration personnel.
The schedule includes lectures, group discussions and a visit to the OPP offices right across the street! Participants may be required to deliver a brief (5 or 10-minute) overview of an aspect of their agency’s registration program. The working group will review all nominations for selection and participants will receive a formal acceptance letter. Pending acceptance in the course, details for the presentation will be provided in forthcoming correspondence.

In consideration of the environment and as a cost savings measure, we are conducting a paperless course! We will provide you in advance with online access to all of the presentations and handouts to be used during the course. Depending on your preferred learning style you may elect to print them at home and bring them to Arlington for your use; and/or load them on your laptop to follow along in the workshop; and/or save them in an archive for your use after the course has concluded. The meeting room will have ample power ports if you plan to bring your laptop. We will NOT provide a traditional course notebook as with previous courses nor a course CD/flash drive containing all of the presentations. Once the course has concluded we welcome your feedback on this evolving innovation and how to best serve the varied needs of attendees. Thank you in advance for helping us to meet our 100% paperless goal in 2013!
To ensure your agency's attendance, please nominate one individual who meets our target audience criteria by Monday, May 14, 2012. Invited participants include representatives from states, territories, Native American tribes and U.S. EPA Regional and Headquarters offices. We will be accepting 24 people from states/tribes/territories into this course, in addition to as many interested U.S. EPA participants as space permits. All travel costs, accommodations, expenses and training materials for the program will be provided to all state/tribal/territory participants (excluding EPA participants.) We require a commitment from all participants for the entire four-day session, which includes a graduation dinner on the last evening of class.

For the past few years several of the PREP classes were oversubscribed resulting in a number of unsuccessful nominations. We expect this course to be popular and be oversubscribed as well. To better clarify the process for selecting attendees the PREP steering Committee has approved a written process. Please refer to the attached Selection Process document. As you can see, it is important to fully complete the nomination form with the information requested.

After referring to the attached Selection Process document, please complete the attached nomination form along with a description of the nominee’s current job responsibilities. Indicate how the nominee meets the target audience and why training is essential to their position. Nominations that fail to provide this information are not likely to be accepted by the planning group. Return nomination materials in their entirety and in Word format by Monday, May 14, 2012 via e-mail to Suzanne Forsyth at spforsyth@ucdavis.edu. Please do not mail and do not submit hand-written nomination forms as PDF files. (If you do not have email capabilities at your agency, then call Suzanne at (530) 757-8603 to make other submittal arrangements.) After you email your form, Suzanne will provide an email receipt of your nomination form within 5 days. We will update the web site every few days with a list of nominations received. It does not indicate acceptance into the course, only that we have your materials. If you do not see your nomination listed on the web or have not received from us a message that we have it, then we do not have your materials! In this case please call. We will notify participants of their placement in the course along with travel and logistical information by late May. If you need more information on the nomination process, call Suzanne Forsyth at (530) 757-8603 or visit the PREP website at http://www.prep-gov.net.

UC Davis has instituted a new travel reimbursement process. Pending your acceptance into the course you will receive a travel voucher with full instructions. However, your nomination form needs to indicate the address where you would like your reimbursement mailed (if it is different than your work address.) If you do not provide an alternate (e.g., home) address, then your check will be mailed to your attention at the agency address provided on your nomination form. As such, please make sure to fully indicate in your agency address any pertinent mailstops or other delivery information that will expedite the delivery of your payment.
We look forward to continuing our work in presenting this worthwhile program and appreciate your assistance in nominating appropriate individuals.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Forsyth
PREP Program Manager
Engineering Unit
UC Davis Extension
1333 Research Park Drive
Davis, CA 95618
(530) 757-8603
spforsyth@ucdavis.edu
Dea Zimmerman
PREP Coordinator
U.S. EPA
Office of Pesticide Programs
77 West Jackson Blvd., Mail Code: LC-8J
Chicago, IL 60604-3507
(312) 353-6344
zimmerman.dea@epa.gov