The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

The tria2ine family of herbicides appeared in and after 1955, and the bipyridiniums in 1960. In 1967, two new chemical herbicides (1) were registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The number of new registrations swelled to 11 in 1975 and subsequendy dropped to three in 1990 and two in 1991. 

Pesticides are more closely regulated than other chemicals because pesticides are intentiaHy appHed in the environment, often repeatedly at relatively high rates. In the United States, pesticides are regulated under the federal Insecticide, fungicide and Rodenticide Act (EIERA), and residues from uses of pesticides in food or feed crops are regulated under Sections 408 and 409 of the federal food, Dmg and Cosmetics Act (EEDCA). 

Another section of the EPA, the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPT), has recently updated and harmonized its testing guidelines for evaluating the developmental and reproductive effects of pesticides and industrial chemicals to include an assessment of endocrine disrupting properties. These guidelines will be used in future testing of pesticides under both the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). 

Act, making it more consistent with other environmental statutes. The Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act all require permits. 

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act affords added protection against the dangers inherent in the use of newer means of pest control. The manufacturer has greater responsibility for furnishing specific information as to how the product can be used effectively but without damage to the user, crops or animals, or the public. 

The principal features of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act have been briefly and clearly presented by Perry (19) the full text and interpretations of the act are also available (28, 29). 

Analytical chemistry is a critical component of worker safety, re-entry, and other related studies intended to assess the risk to humans during and subsequent to pesticide applications. The analytical aspect takes on added significance when such studies are intended for submission to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and/or other regulatory authorities and are thus required to be conducted according to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Standards, or their equivalent. This presentation will address test, control, and reference substance characterization, use-dilution (tank mix) verification, and specimen (exposure matrix sample) analyses from the perspective of GLP Standards requirements. 

Final Rule for Good Laboratory Practice Standards under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 160. 

In the five and one-half years of ensuing Congressional activity, many additional aspects were considered and some were included in the Act as finally enacted. Possibly the most controversial had to do with the treatment of new substances. Were these to be treated by registration, as is the case in the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), or were they to be subject to a less onerous notification procedure This would begin the attempt to assess their risks more in balance with the growth in commercial volume of the substance, and hence with its capacity to pay the costs for the frequently costly testing required. Without such a balance, the... 

Those federal regulations of interest and importance for addressing subsurface environmental issues in chronological order of establishment include the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Resource, Conservation, and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FTFRA), and the Petroleum Safety Act (PSA). These regulations are discussed below. 

Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), food tolerance restrictions apply to various cyanide compounds when applied to growing crops (EPA 1971a, 1975a). 

For protection of public health, there must be some control of the experimental use of pesticide chemicals in obtaining data necessary for registration of a marketable product. Experimental use permits are issued under provisions, at 40 USC 136c, of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Either temporary tolerance or an exemption can be granted with a permit. When the EPA takes such action, a notice is published in the Federal Register (Schultz, 1981). 

In US, AF products need a registration both at federal and at state level. Registration/regulation of AF paints is governed by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act FIFRA (US, 2004) and administered by US Environmental Protection Agency. Extensive data packages need to be submitted by the biocide producers and the paint manufacturers. The decision for approval of products is based upon a risk benefit balance evaluation process. 

In 1974, federally recommended procedures were published under authority of the 1972 amendments of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) that addressed pesticide disposal (2). These recommendations identified an incinerator operating at 1000°C (1832°F) with 2-s retention time in the combustion zone as acceptable for destruction of organic pesticides. Other incinerators, such as those for municipal solid waste capable of effecting complete pesticide destruction, are also acceptable. During this same time frame, i.e., from the early 1970s to date, a number of research and demonstration studies have been conducted involving pesticide incineration. Most of these concern either the identification of incinerator... 

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1972 required the EPA to study the consequences of pesticide use and to require users (such as farmers) to register when purchasing pesticides. 

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