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One motivation behind EPA’s comprehensive revisions of its certification requirements for applicators of restricted use pesticides (RUP) is the need for the federal regulations to catch up with authorized state programs. Issued under authority of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) in 1974, the original RUP applicator certification requirements (40 CFR part 171) […]
Several EPA offices involved in reviewing toxic chemicals for commercial use have been moving to approve alternatives to using live animals—called in vivo testing—as part of their regulatory testing requirements. In the latest development, the Agency’s Office of Pesticide Program (OPP) has issued a document describing a process for evaluating and implementing alternative approaches to […]
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use. Four of those states and D.C. have also legalized the recreational use of marijuana. A growing number of other states are considering legalization. So, how are pesticides being regulated in marijuana fields, and what are the protections for field workers from pesticides […]
Recap: What are Nanoscale Materials? Nanomaterials are chemical substances that have structures with dimensions at the nanoscale—approximately 1 to 100 nanometers. To get an idea of their size, a human hair is approximately 80,000 to 100,000 nanometers wide. These materials are currently used in hundreds of consumer products, including electronics, cosmetics, clothing, food, and medicines. […]
Pesticide labeling continues to be one of the most violated aspects of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not hesitate to investigate facilities and impose penalties when public health and the environment are at risk. Take a look at what one company did to warrant one […]
EPA’s Criminal Enforcement Division (CID) has changed priorities in recent years and has been seeking prosecution of individual defendants as high up the corporate hierarchy as there is evidence. For this the Agency offers one simple reason–corporate managers will think twice about deliberately breaking the law if they understand that they face jail time and […]
While EPA has yet to issue formal definitions for terms such as nanotechnology or nanoscale materials under any statute, the Agency understands those terms in the context of three conditions or elements: The material’s particle size measures typically between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers in at least one dimension. The material exhibits unique or novel […]