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With the passage of the Food Quality Protection Act in 1996, pesticide regulation in the United States has begun to respond to new scientific research. Passage of the act was a direct result of the publication of the National Academy of Science's 1993 report, Pesticide in the Diets of Infants and Children.* This report questioned the government's ability to assess pesticide risks for children in order to prevent dangerous exposure.
A key feature of the Food Quality Protection Act is the way it implements risk assessment in determining
pesticide tolerance levels. Risk assessment has been called "the process of determining the probability of a bad outcome." Prior legislation required the EPA to balance the risks and benefits
associated with pesticides in determining whether or not they can be used. In conducting these risk-assessment studies, the EPA used data from tests conducted on animals and, in most
cases, provided by the manufacturer. The EPA then extrapolated from the resulting data the possible harm a pesticide ingredient might pose for humans. The new law changes these practices and
requires that by 2006 the EPA reassess the risks of over 9,700 pesticide tolerances, re-evaluate the allowable levels of pesticides that can remain in or on food, and apply a safety factor of
10 where comprehensive and complete information is not available regarding the cumulative impacts on children.
Key provisions of the Food Quality Protection Act include:
- EPA must set pesticide tolerance levels for raw or processed food, with "a reasonable certainty" of no harm from aggregate
exposure to pesticides.
- EPA must assess the impact on infants and children in determining tolerance levels so that aggregate exposure to
pesticides will not result in harm to infants and children.
- EPA cannot consider the benefits of a pesticide when evaluating pesticide tolerances based on their impact on reproduction
and prenatal development or on exposure levels for infants and children. Pesticide benefits may be considered in the evaluation of existing tolerances for cancer-causing effects if the
pesticide risk is less than the risk caused by its discontinuation, if its discontinuation would cause a major disruption of the food supply, and if certain criteria for lifetime risk are
met.
- EPA must publish information, to be displayed in grocery stores, about any pesticide residues that do not meet the
standard of reasonable certainty of no harm but are allowed because of their perceived benefits.*
For the first time, under the Food Quality Protection Act, the EPA is also scheduled to examine tolerance
exemptions given to "inert" pesticide ingredients—those used to dilute or carry the active ingredient. Of the 2,500 substances added to pesticides but not named on product labels, more than
650 have been identified as hazardous by federal, state, or international agencies. Nearly 400 of these have been used as the active killing ingredient in pesticides. Twenty-one of the inert
ingredients have been classified as carcinogens, 127 as occupational hazards, and 209 as hazardous air or water pollutants. The "inert" ingredient naphthalene, for instance, is designated a
hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act and a priority pollutant under the Clean Water Act.
In addition to EPA regulation, many state agencies in Texas are also responsible for regulating pesticide use and protecting farmworker safety. The Texas Legislature in 1989 created the Agriculture Resources Protection Authority to coordinate policies and programs of all Texas agencies related to the control of pesticides. These agencies include the Structural Pest Control, the Texas Department of Health, the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas Soil and Water Conservation Board, and the TNRCC.
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