Pesticides and Risk Communication PPP-52 - Purdue Pesticide ...

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The Registration Branch was responsible for registering all products
before they entered the market. Manufacturers wishing to register a
product had to
• provide efficacy data demonstrating product performance.
• substantiate their claim that the product met USDA safety and
health criteria.
• document truth in labeling: that the contents of the product were
exactly as stated on the label.
• include clearly stated use directions, on the label, to assist the
user in gaining maximum benefit from the product.
• describe, on the label, the use precautions necessary to ensure
human and environmental safety.
Government involvement continued to increase. In 1958, the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), through the Miller Amendment, worked
with USDA to set tolerances for residues in food. Thus, manufacturers
were required to submit data to show that pesticide residues in food
from treated crops did not exceed established tolerances. During this
period, most tolerances were around 7 parts per million, which corresponded
to the sensitivity limit of analytical methods available at that
time. Pesticides without detectable residues were assigned a “no
residue” registration; and those with detectable residues were assigned
a “residue” registration.
The residue/no-residue registrations were challenged as improvements
in technology allowed scientific detection of residues in parts per
billion. This increased capability raised concerns because pesticides
previously registered through USDA as “no-residue” products could now
be shown to render residues detectable in parts per billion. The result
was elimination of the “no-residue” registration.
FIFRA was amended in 1964 to require USDA to refuse registration
of pesticides determined unsafe or ineffective, and to revoke registration
of and remove such existing products from the market. It also requires
that all pesticide labels bear a USDA registration number; that the front
label of all pesticides display a signal word—CAUTION, WARNING, or DAN-
GER—and the phrase “Keep Out of Reach of Children”; and that all
claims made about the “safety” of a product be removed from the label.
Rachel Carson Introduced
the Public to Pesticide Risks
In 1962, Dr. Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that
refocused and energized public debate on pesticides. Carson was a
scientist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and in her book she
described the devastating effects of DDT on the environment. Silent