Pesticide regulation in the United States

Pesticide regulation in the United States is primarily a responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In America, it was not till the 1950s that pesticides were regulated in terms of their safety. The Pesticides Control Amendment (PCA) of 1954 was the first time Congress passed guidance regarding the establishment of safe limits for pesticide residues on food.^[1] It authorized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban pesticides they determined to be unsafe if they were sprayed directly on food. The Food Additives Amendment, which included the Delaney Clause, prohibited the pesticide residues from any carcinogenic pesticides in processed food. In 1959, pesticides were required to be registered.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon created the EPA and shifted control of pesticide regulation from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Department of the Interior (DOI), and FDA to the newly created agency.^[2] By this time, public awareness of potential human health and environmental health effects had increased. In addition, some members of Congress began to express concerns about the adequacy of pesticide regulation.^[3] In 1972, the Federal Environmental Pesticides Control Act (FEPCA). FEPCA required manufacturers of new pesticides to perform a variety of tests to prove that the pesticide did not have "unreasonable adverse effects" on human health or the environment.

Current law requires the EPA to consider the "ingredients of the pesticide; the particular site or crop on which it is to be used; the amount, frequency, and timing of its use; and storage and disposal practices." The EPA looks at what the potential human health and environmental effects might be associated with the use of the pesticide. The company that wishes to register the pesticide must provide data from various test that are done using EPA guidelines. These tests include: acute toxicity test (short-term toxicity test) and chronic toxicity test (long-term toxicity test). These tests evaluate: whether the pesticide has the potential to cause adverse effects (including cancer and reproductive system disorders) on humans, wildlife, fish, and plants, including endangered species and non-target organisms; and possible contamination of surface water or ground water from leaching, runoff, and spray drift.^[4] The registration process can take upwards of 6 to 9 years, and the cost of registration for a single pesticide is in the range of millions of dollars.