• Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FDCA)

Passed in 1938 in response to the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster in 1937. Recognized the need to regulate pesticides found in food, but offers no means of regulation.

• Miller Amendment/Pesticide Chemicals Amendment
  • Passed in 1954.
  • Made FDCA more effective by requiring the establishment of acceptable and unacceptable levels of pesticides in food.
• Delaney Clause
  • Passed in 1958 with an amendment of FDCA when herbicide aminotriazole was discovered on cranberry plants in Oregon/Washington.
  • The section stated that no substance capable of causing cancer in test animals or in humans would be permitted in processed food (frozened, canned, dehydrated, preserved, etc.) because pesticides tend to concentrate in condensed processed foods (e.g tomato paste/applesauce).
  • However, it did not cover pesticides on raw foods.
  • Strict tests on newly registered pesticides were put into effect in 1978. However, EPA lacked sufficient data on the cancer-causing risks of pesticides that have been used since before 1978.
  • Thus, more dangerous, older pesticides may be used over newer pesticides with minimal risk.
  • Modern scientific techniques are sensitive enough that almost no processed food can meet the Delaney standard.
  • EPA permitted a negligible risk of one case of cancer in 70 years for every one million people, but was taken to court in 1994. No exceptions could be granted unless Congress modified the Delaney Clause.

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
  • Passed in 1947 to regulate the effectiveness of pesticides.
  • Amended to require testing and registration of active ingredients.
  • Pesticides that do not meet FDCA are denied registration.
  • Used in conjunction with FDCA, EPA banned/restricted use of many chlorinated hydrocarbons. However, a 1987 study concluded that the public was not adequately protected from cancer-causing pesticides.
  • Amended FIFRA in 1988 to require registration of older pesticides (same toxicity tests as newer pesticides).
  • Compromise->did not address contamination of groundwater, standards for pesticide residues on foods, safety of farm workers (pesticide exposure), and force the disclosure of inert ingredients by pesticide companies.

• Food Quality Protection Act
  • Passed in 1996.
  • Amended both FDCA and FIFRA.
  • Establish identical pesticide residue limits for both raw produce and processed foods.
  • Requires that increased susceptibility of children be taken into account when establishing pesticide residue limits (for all health risks).
  • Reduces time to ban a pesticide considered dangerous from 10 years to 14 months.