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Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
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FIFRA was created in 1947 in response to the shortcomings of the 1910 Federal Insecticide Act. The new law "established procedures for registering pesticides with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and established labeling provisions" for pesticides, fungicides, and rodenticides.
At the time of its creation the law was primarily concerned with the efficacy, not regulation of pesticides. However, in 1972 the law underwent major revisions.
In 1972 a new direction for the law was introduced. Not only would the law be concerned with labeling and potency of pesticides, but it would also protect humans and the environment from the potentially harmful effects of pesticides. Mitigation and prevention were named its new directives. Along with this change of course the responsibility for enforcing the restrictions and regulations was allocated to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is the governmental agency tasked with ethically dealing with environmental threats and enforcing laws pertaining to the environment. They primarily issue fines, but in some cases criminal charges can be fired.
The revisions included tough restrictions on what pesticides could be used, bought, or sold within the United States and how they were to be regulated. Some of the regulations include:
-Licensing
-Registration of pesticides
-Data checks on pesticide research
-EPA can cancel registration spontaneously
Overall the law has been amended 11 times: 1964,1972, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2004, 2007. Some of the amendments took place indirectly through the creation of new acts such as the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 and Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996.
All pesticides used in the United States have to comply with FIFRA standards of safety. However, any pesticide can be permitted if there is enough evidence to support the benefits of usage outweigh the risks. Naturally, very few pesticides are given this special privilege.
In 2012 a company in Evansville Illinois was charged with 150 counts of violating FIFRA. The company pleaded guilty to handing Methyl Bromide without proper certification and exposing employees to this dangerous chemical. Methyl Bromide is a commercially used soil sterilizer used primarily in seed production where herbicides cannot be used. Initially they were fined $38,000, but criminal charges were later filed. This brought the fine to around $1 million dollars.
From 2008-2010 there were around 70 violations to FIFRA.