EPA Evaluation and Regulation of Pet Collar Products
Pet Collar Evaluation
EPA evaluates pet collar products that protect pets from fleas and ticks. Before a pet collar product is registered, EPA conducts a human health risk assessment and an ecological risk assessment. EPA also reviews companion animal safety data to determine if the product has the potential to cause harm to the animal receiving the pesticide treatment for protection against the target pest. Learn more.
Additionally, EPA reviews the active ingredients used in pet collars at least every 15 years to ensure they can carry out their intended function(s) without creating unreasonable adverse effects to human health or the environment, including pets. This process, known as registration review, may result in label changes to pet collar products to address any identified risks of concern.
Pet Collar Regulation
Since the mid-1970s, EPA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have determined oversight for products topically administered to animals to treat fleas and ticks based on whether the chemical is systemically absorbed into the bloodstream (FDA oversight) or remains on the skin (EPA oversight).
However, the agencies now understand that many of the topically administered products currently regulated by EPA do not remain on the skin and are absorbed into the bloodstream, highlighting challenges with the current approach and raising different safety concerns than originally anticipated.
In February 2023, EPA and FDA jointly released a whitepaper that outlines a proposal for an updated approach to clarify regulatory oversight of specific products in alignment with each Agency’s expertise. The whitepaper includes a process for transferring oversight of flea and tick pet products from EPA to FDA. An updated approach clarifying oversight over new and existing products would promote the efficient use of each Agency’s expertise, improve regulatory clarity, and better protect human, animal, and environmental health. Learn more .
Pet Collar Data Collection
EPA aims to improve the quality of pet collar incident reporting data and sales data it receives from pesticide registrants. Enhanced reporting requirements for pet collars would align with requirements for most spot-on products and would allow the Agency to review pet incidents across the most used registered pet products to better determine whether any changes to the pet product registrations and labels are necessary.
As EPA re-evaluates active ingredients found in pet collars through its registration review program, EPA is considering feedback from interested parties on the most efficient way these data can be provided to the Agency and the types of analyses that could be submitted to expedite the Agency’s assessment.