27
Sep
Inspector General Challenges EPA’s Allowance of Off-Label “Emergency” Pesticide Use
(Beyond Pesticides, September 27, 2018) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report finding the agency’s practice of routinely granting “emergency” approval through its Section 18 program for pesticide use does not effectively measure risks to human health or the environment. The inspector general recommends EPA “develop and implement applicable outcome-based performance measures to demonstrate the human health and environmental effects of the EPA’s emergency exemption decisions.” EPA disagreed with the recommendation, leaving the issue of chronic overuse of the emergency exemptions unresolved. Under Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the EPA has the authority to approve the temporary emergency use of unapproved pesticides if the agency determines the pesticide is needed to prevent the spread of an unexpected outbreak of crop-damaging insects, for example. But this provision has been widely abused. OIG’s report finds “significant deficiencies in the OPP’s online database management, in its draft Section 18 emergency exemption standard operating procedure and application checklist, and in its reports to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget.” Specifically, the report notes EPA, “does not have outcome measures in place to determine how well the emergency exemption process […]
