Why We Review Pesticides
EPA periodically reviews existing registered pesticides to ensure they can be used safely, without unreasonable risks to human health and the environment. The registration review program is intended to make sure that, as the ability to assess risk evolves and as policies and practices change, all registered pesticides continue to meet the statutory standard of no unreasonable adverse effects.
The periodic review of pesticide registrations is required by the pesticide statute – the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) and the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA). Before the registration review program was established, we re-evaluated pesticides through the reregistration program, which was established in 1988 to ensure that older pesticides met current safety standards. FQPA also added a mandate to review existing tolerances (the amount of pesticide allowed to remain in or on a food commodity). We combined this effort with the reregistration program.
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