Proposed Re-evaluation Decision PRVD2022-08, Methyl Nonyl Ketone and Its Associated End-use Products

Notice to the reader:

This consultation is now closed.

Pest Management Regulatory Agency
29 April 2022
ISSN: 1925-0967 (PDF version)
Catalogue number: H113-27/2022-8E-PDF (PDF version)

Table of contents

• Proposed re-evaluation decision
• Next steps
• Other information
• Additional scientific information

Proposed re-evaluation decision

Under the Pest Control Products Act, all registered pest control products, including animal repellents, must be regularly re-evaluated by Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to ensure that they continue to meet health and environmental safety standards and continue to have value. The re-evaluation considers data and information from various sources such as information from pesticide manufacturers, incident reports, and other regulatory agencies. Health Canada applies internationally accepted risk assessment methods, risk management approaches and policies to all re-evaluations.

This document (Proposed Re-evaluation Decision PRVD2022-08, Methyl Nonyl Ketone and Its Associated End-use Products) presents the proposed regulatory decision for the re-evaluation of methyl nonyl ketone including any proposed amendments (risk mitigation measures) to protect human health and the environment, as well as the Science Evaluation on which the proposed decision is based.

Methyl nonyl ketone is registered in Canada for use as an animal repellent against cats and dogs in a wide range of indoor and outdoor domestic settings such as on furniture, carpets, flowerbeds, lawns, patios and garbage cans. It can be applied as a spray (indoor and outdoor), or by spreading the granular product by hand or with a fertilizer spreader (outdoor). It acts by confusing the animal's sense of smell and discouraging it from visiting the treated area. Currently registered products containing methyl nonyl ketone can be found in Appendix I of PRVD2022-08.

Registered pest control product labels include specific instructions, including risk mitigation measures to protect human health and the environment, which must be followed by law. When the current label directions are followed, these products were shown to have value in providing a pest management solution, and potential risks to human health (residential and bystander) and the environment (aquatic and terrestrial organisms and their habitats) are considered to be acceptable. Based on the current use pattern, occupational and dietary exposure are not expected. As a result of the re-evaluation of methyl nonyl ketone, no additional risk mitigation measures are proposed by Health Canada. However, updates to precautionary label statements are proposed as per current labelling standards.

Under the authority of the Pest Control Products Act and based on the evaluation of currently available scientific information, products containing methyl nonyl ketone (Appendix I of PRVD2022-08) are being proposed for continued registration in Canada, with the proposed updates to label directions (Appendix II of PRVD2022-08).

All products containing methyl nonyl ketone registered in Canada are subject to this proposed re-evaluation decision. This document is subject to a public consultation,^Footnote 1 during which written comments and additional information may be submitted to PMRA Publications. The final re-evaluation decision will be published taking into consideration the comments and information received during the consultation period.

Next steps

The public, including the registrants and stakeholders, are encouraged to submit written comments and additional information during the 90-day public consultation period upon publication of this proposed re-evaluation decision.

All comments received during the 90-day public consultation period will be taken into consideration in preparation of the re-evaluation decision document,^Footnote 2 which could result in revised risk mitigation measures. The re-evaluation decision document will include the final re-evaluation decision, the reasons for it, and a summary of comments received on the proposed re-evaluation decision with PMRA's responses.

Other information

When Health Canada makes its re-evaluation decision, it will publish a Re-evaluation Decision on methyl nonyl ketone (based on the Science Evaluation of PRVD2022-08). In addition, the test data referenced in this consultation document will be available for public inspection, upon application, in the PMRA's Reading Room.

Additional scientific information

Additional scientific data are not required.