Environmental Pesticide Control Act (FEPCA) of 1972

Environmental Pesticide Control Act (FEPCA) of 1972

From the Environmental Protection Agency's website.

"The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) was first passed in 1947, it established procedures for registering pesticides with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and established labeling provisions. FIFRA was essentially rewritten in 1972 when it was amended by the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act (FEPCA). In its current form, FIFRA mandates that EPA regulate the use and sale of pesticides to protect human health and preserve the environment.

Since the FEPCA amendments, EPA is specifically authorized to: (1) strengthen the registration process by shifting the burden of proof to the chemical manufacturer, (2) enforce compliance against banned and unregistered products, and (3) promulgate the regulatory framework missing from the original law.

FIFRA provides EPA with the authority to oversee the sale and use of pesticides. However, because FIFRA does not fully preempt state/tribal or local law, each state/tribe and local government may also regulate pesticide use."

Cry Wolf Quotes

Are we stripping our [pesticide] arsenal of essential weapons? If we strip that arsenal, something is bound to happen. I can’t predict what insect, what disease vector, might attack the food supply or health of this country….The consequences of such a situation may go far beyond a mere food shortage….The position of our State Department could be impaired….Our military potential could be seriously affected.

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R.E. Naegele, manager of Dow Chemical’s agricultural department, Testimony, House Committee on Agriculture.

If you people ban the use of endrin [see below] until we know a lot more about it then we do now, many orchards will simply go out of production.

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Rep. George Goodling (R-PA). House Committee on Agriculture hearings.

Present regulations have been effective in protecting human health and our food supply….We do not have a pesticide environmental crisis at this time.

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D. Lyle Goleman, Chairman of the Entomology Department at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. House Committee on Agriculture.

Many companies have cut back drastically their research efforts on new pesticides and diverted their funds to defensive research….Legislation and regulation may ban products but replacements cannot be regulated into existence…Companies are leaving the pesticide business or cutting down their research and development efforts.

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R.E. Naegele, manager of Dow Chemical’s agricultural department, Testimony, House Committee on Agriculture.