DECLARATION OF HOLLY KNIGHT

I, Holly Knight, declare as follows:

1. I am an intern with the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP). I make this declaration in support of NCAP's petition to require disclosure of inert ingredients on pesticide labels.

2. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently requires that pesticide manufacturers list only "active" ingredients and a small group of "inert" ingredients on their product labels. Over 2,500 so-called "inert" ingredients are not subject to the disclosure requirement.

3. In the fall of 1996, I began reviewing EPA's databases on pesticide ingredients. The purposes of my research were: a) to determine if any of the ingredients listed as "inerts" on EPA's "List of Pesticide Product Inert Ingredients" were also registered as "active" ingredients in any pesticide product; b) to determine whether EPA has used information from its database of active ingredients to properly classify the toxicity of inert ingredients; and c) to determine whether substances classified as inert ingredients in pesticide products were at the same time classified by EPA [or by other agencies] as hazardous substances.

4. To address the first question, whether any "inert" ingredients were also being used as "active" ingredients, I examined the EPA "Chemical Ingredients Database for Active Ingredients" on the World Wide Web,1 the Register of Lists database,2 and EPA's "List of Pesticide Product Inert Ingredients."3 By comparing these three lists, I determined that several hundred "active" product ingredients were also used as inert ingredients in other pesticides.

5. Using Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) numbers, I searched EPA's active ingredients database for each of the 2,518 inerts on the inert ingredients list. The comparison showed that at least 394, or 16%, are or have been used as active ingredients. See Table 1.

6. Naphthalene is an example of a chemical that is used as both an "active" and an "inert" ingredient. When it is an "active" ingredient, it must be disclosed on the product label, but when it is used as an "inert" ingredient, it is not disclosed. Naphthalene is an active ingredient in 16 currently marketed pesticide products and at least 85 products that are no longer manufactured.4 Naphthalene can be found in at least five products as an inert and is a constituent of Aromatic 150, a commonly used solvent. Because of a coding error, naphthalene has been omitted from EPA's Pesticides Products database. As a result, the total number of products in which naphthalene is used as an inert is unknown.5 Naphthalene demonstrates how EPA has ignored its own data when classifying inerts for toxicity. For instance, it is considered a hazardous air and water pollutant under the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. In addition, naphthalene is among the 100 hazardous substances most commonly found at Superfund sites. According to EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, these 100 substances pose "the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity."6 The most frequent health effect of naphthalene poisoning is hemolytic anemia, which can cause permanent neurological damage, jaundice, convulsions and death in infants.7 Nevertheless, EPA holds that naphthalene is of "unknown" toxicity.

7. To analyze my second question, whether EPA has used information from its active ingredient database to properly classify the toxicity of inert ingredients, I compared the list of 394 active "inert" ingredients to EPA's toxicity rating scale for inerts. I assumed that EPA had at least some information on the toxicity of some of these active "inerts," because such information must be submitted to EPA before an active ingredient may be registered by EPA under FIFRA. The majority of these active "inerts" (264, or 70%) however, are found on List 3, meaning the EPA considers them to be of "unknown" toxicity.

8. To address my third question, whether substances classified as "inert" ingredients in pesticides are classified as "hazardous" for purposes other than use in pesticide products, I reviewed several statutes regulating hazardous substances as well as the findings of several national and international organizations.

9. I found that at least 94 "inert" ingredients must be reported under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986.8 See Table 2. I also found that at least 209 "inert" ingredients are listed as hazardous pollutants under the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.9 See Table 3. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's list of occupational hazards10 includes at least 127 substances used as inerts. See Table 4. In fact over half of the inerts on these lists can be found on EPA's List 3: Inerts of Unknown Toxicity. Despite formal recognition by other federal agencies and other departments within EPA of the toxicity of these "inerts," the Office of Pesticide Programs at EPA continues to list them as being of "unknown" toxicity.

10. I also found that 17 chemicals used as inerts have been classified as known or suspected carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)11 and the National Toxicology Program.12 See Table 5. For example, IARC has classified twelve ingredients that are used as "inerts" as possible carcinogens, one as a probable carcinogen, and three as known carcinogens. Coal tar has been classified as a known carcinogen since 1987, and yet EPA has classified it as a List 3 inert. According to EPA's own criteria, chemicals that have been assessed as known, probable, or possible carcinogens by IARC qualify for List 1 status. Despite these facts, only the probable carcinogen, formaldehyde, has List 1 status.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the forgoing is true and correct.

Executed this 20th day of January, 1998, at Eugene, Oregon.

Holly Knight

FOOTNOTES

1 http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/epa/epachem.htm

2 U.S. EPA, 1997. Register of Lists. Unpublished.

3 U.S. EPA, May 17, 1995. List of Pesticide Product Inert Ingredients. Unpublished.

4 Id.

5 Telephone interview with Calvin Furlow, EPA Office of Pesticide Programs, Public Information, and Records Integrity Branch, October 8, 1997.

6 42 U.S.C. § 9604 (I)(2)(A).

7 U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 1995. Toxicological Profile On Naphthalene (Update). Atlanta, Georgia.)

8 U.S. EPA. 1997. Register of Lists. Unpublished.

9 Id.

10 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1000.

11 International Agency for Research on Cancer. 1997. IARC Monographs, vols 1-69. Lyon, France: IARC.

12 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Toxicology Program. 1994. Seventh Annual Report on Carcinogens. Washington, D.C.