|
Highlights of the Food Quality Protection
Act of 1996"
(EPA document:
http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/fqpa/fqpahigh.htm)
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Provisions (FFDCA)
Health-Based Safety Standard for Pesticide Residues in Food: The new law
establishes a strong, health-based safety standard for pesticide residues in all foods. It
uses "a reasonable certainty of no harm" as the general safety standard,
the same approach used in the Administration's 1994 bill.
* A single, health-based standard eliminates longstanding problems posed by multiple
standards for pesticides in raw and processed foods.
* Requires EPA to consider all non-occupational sources of exposure, including drinking
water, and exposure to other pesticides with a common mechanism of toxicity when setting
tolerances.
Special Provisions for Infants and Children: The new law incorporates language
virtually identical to the Administration's 1994 bill to implement key recommendations of
the National Academy of Sciences report, "Pesticides in the Diets of Infants
and Children."
*Requires an explicit determination that tolerances are safe for children.
*Includes an additional safety factor of up to ten-fold, if necessary, to account for
uncertainty in data relative to children.
*Requires consideration of children's special sensitivity and exposure to pesticide
chemicals.
Limitations on Benefits Considerations: Unlike the previous law, which contained an
open-ended provision for the consideration of pesticide benefits when setting tolerances,
the new law places specific limits on benefits considerations.
*Apply only to non-threshold effects of pesticides (e.g., carcinogenic effects); benefits
cannot be taken into account for reproductive or other threshold effects.
*Further limited by three "backstops" on the level of risk that could be offset
by benefits considerations. The first is a limit on the acceptable risk in any one year --
this limitation greatly reduces the risks. The second limitation is on the lifetime risk,
which would allow EPA to remove tolerances after specific phase-out periods. The third
limitation is that benefits could not be used to override the health-based standard for
children.
Tolerance Reevaluation: Requires that all existing tolerances be reviewed within 10
years to make sure they meet the requirements of the new health-based safety standard.
Endocrine Disrupters: Incorporates provisions for endocrine testing, and also
provides new authority to require that chemical manufacturers provide data on their
products, including data on potential endocrine effects.
Enforcement: Includes enhanced enforcement of pesticide residue standards by
allowing the Food and Drug Administration to impose civil penalties for tolerance
violations.
Right to Know: Requires distribution of a brochure in grocery stores on the health
effects of pesticides, how to avoid risks, and which foods have tolerances for pesticide
residues based on benefits considerations. Specifically recognizes a state's right to
require warnings or labeling of food that has been treated with pesticides, such as
California's Proposition 65.
Uniformity of Tolerances: States may not set tolerance levels that differ from
national levels unless the state petitions EPA for an exception, based on state-specific
situations. National uniformity, however, would not apply to tolerances that included
benefits considerations.
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Provisions (FIFRA)
Pesticide Reregistration Program: Reauthorizes and increases (from $14M to $16M per
year) user fees necessary to complete the review of older pesticides to ensure they meet
current standards. Requires tolerances to be reassessed as part of the reregistration
program.
Pesticide Registration Renewal: Requires EPA to periodically review pesticide
registrations, with a goal of establishing a 15-year cycle, to ensure that all pesticides
meet updated safety standards.
Registration of Safer Pesticides: Expedites review of safer pesticides to help them
reach the market sooner and replace older and potentially more risky chemicals.
Minor Use Pesticides:
*Establishes minor use programs within EPA and USDA to foster coordination on minor use
regulations and policy, and provides for a revolving grant fund to support development of
data necessary to register minor use pesticides.
*Encourages minor use registrations through extensions for submitting pesticide residue
data, extensions for exclusive use of data, flexibility to waive certain data
requirements, and requires EPA to expedite review of minor use applications. These
incentives are coupled with safeguards to protect the environment.
Anti-microbial Pesticides: Establishes new requirements to expedite the review and
registration of anti-microbial pesticides. Ends regulatory overlap in jurisdiction over
liquid chemical sterilants.
|
|
