Pesticide Law: A Summary of the Statutes Summary

This report summarizes the major statutory authorities governing pesticide regulation: the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and Section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as well as the major regulatory programs for pesticides. Text relevant to FIFRA is excerpted, with minor modifications, from the corresponding chapter of CRS Report RL30798, Environmental Laws: Summaries of Statutes Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, coordinated by Susan Fletcher, which summarizes more than a dozen environmental statutes. This report will be updated at the beginning of the first session of each new Congress, or sooner if Congress enacts a law that substantively changes a statute. Congress enacted the original version of FIFRA in 1947, but a revision in 1972 is the basis of current pesticide policy. Substantial changes were made in 1988 and again in 1996. The 1996 FIFRA amendments were contained in the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), which also amended the FFDCA. Congress first required limits on pesticide residues on raw food in 1954 amendments to the FFDCA. Limit