For Release:  March 6, 2018

On March 5, 2018, the Agency published a Federal Register notice (FRN) requesting nominations of experts to serve as ad hoc members on the July 17-20, 2018 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) Panel meeting to consider and review resistance in Lepidopteran Pests to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Plant Incorporated Protectants in the U.S.

Nominations are due on or before April 4, 2018 and can be provided by following the instructions in the FRN in docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2017-0617 in www.regulations.gov or by forwarding the nominations to the Designated Federal Official listed below.

Nominations should include scientists who have sufficient professional qualifications, training, and experience to be capable of providing expert comments on the scientific issues for this meeting. Individuals nominated for this meeting should have expertise in one or more of the following areas: field entomologists with expertise in the southern U.S. corn and cotton systems who are either corn earworm/bollworm (both systems), fall armyworm, and/or western bean cutworm experts; pesticide resistance modelers with a strong background in entomology, ecology, and population biology; insect resistance management experts; population biologists understanding the life-history of corn earworm/bollworm, fall armyworm, and/or western bean cutworm; corn breeders, molecular biologists in the field of entomology with an understanding of the agricultural system in the southern U.S.; social scientists with expertise in resistance management issues and understanding of dynamics in the agricultural U.S. (e.g., human and market factors); and economists with expertise in the U.S. agricultural system and Bt technology related issues.

Additional information may be found in the docket, on the FIFRA SAP website, or by contacting the Designated Federal Official, Tamue L. Gibson (gibson.tamue@epa.gov or 202-564-7642).

The FIFRA SAP serves as a primary scientific peer review mechanism of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and is structured to provide scientific advice, information and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on pesticides and pesticide-related issues as to the impact of regulatory actions on health and the environment.