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The Federal Insecticide , Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) of 1972 was enacted in the United States to regulate the manufacture and use of pesticides, and represented a significant reworking of the existing law, which had been introduced in 1947. The most significant amendment was the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, which requires potential and existing manufacturers to submit applications for licenses to produce goods for commercial use. The information required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) includes the contents of any formulation, which is kept confidential, the tests that have been used to determine the safety of the product, and directions for use.
Federal law generally preempts state laws in connection with FIFRA to prevent unscrupulous manufacturers from taking advantage of loopholes or weaknesses in state regulations. Second, the use of pesticides affects people, livestock, and crops across state borders. However, it is argued that a decentralized structure is more appropriate for a market in which numerous products are introduced and many specific local conditions exist, which may require special provisions. Some have argued that the preemption of state regulations have unfairly benefited pesticide manufacturers, who gain protection from tort liability for problems or health issues resulting from labeling or usage of their products. Preemption was also involved in the attempt to use FIFRA to obtain recompense by veterans of the American War in Vietnam, whose health had been damaged by the military’s use of Agent Orange. Foreign nationals are not empowered to use this legislation against American corporations.
The stakes are high in such legal debates because of the money involved in intensive agriculture, which often requires extensive use of pesticides. As scientists continue to provide new types of pesticides and methods of applying them, constant reevaluation of the regulations is required, even if the basic principles do not change. Some argue, however, that extensive safety tests and regulations unnecessarily restricts competition because only a few companies have sufficient financial resources to follow the process. Non-American companies wishing to import also dislike labeling and testing regulations that are deemed unnecessary in their home countries. The largest fine imposed by the EPA concerning FIFRA regulations was in 1998, when the Monsanto corporation was fined $225,000 for persistent mislabeling of products.
Bibliography:
- Arthur Cook, “U.S. Supreme Court Limits Preemptive Effect of FIFRA,” Pest Control (v.73/6, 2005);
- Roger W. Findley and Daniel A. Farber, Environmental Law in a Nutshell (West, 2004);
- Joseph Frueh, “Pesticides, Preemption, and the Return of Tort Protection,” Yale Journal on Regulation (v.23/2, 2006).
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