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The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA - overview) amended FIFRA and FFDCA setting tougher safety standards for new and old pesticides and to make uniform requirements regarding processed and unprocessed foods. FQPA:
- Passed unanimously in both the House and Senate
- Amended both FIFRA and FFDCA, significantly changing the way EPA regulates pesticides:
- Establishes a single safety standard under FFDCA by which we are to set tolerances--not a risk/benefit standard (with some exceptions) assessment must include aggregate exposures including all dietary exposures, drinking water, and non-occupational (e.g., residential) exposures
- When assessing a tolerance, EPA must also consider cumulative effects and common mode of toxicity among related pesticides, the potential for endocrine disruption effects, and appropriate safety factor to incorporate
- Requires a special finding for the protection of infants and children must incorporate a 10-fold safety factor to further protect infants and children unless reliable information in the database indicates that it can be reduced or removed
- Establishes a tolerance reassessment program and lays out a schedule whereby EPA must reevaluate all tolerances that were in place as of August, 1996 within 10 years
- Requires a minor use program and provides that special considerations be afforded minor use actions
- Requires review of antimicrobial actions within prescribed timeframes EPA must now periodically review every pesticide registration every 15 years
- Now required to set tolerances for use of pesticides under emergency exemptions (FIFRA Section 18)
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