EPA EYES SMALL BUSINESS IMPACT OF ENDING MINIMUM RISK PESTICIDE WAIVER

摘要

EPA is poised to convene a panel to assess the impact on small businesses of ending an exemption for some "minimum risk" personal insect repellents, which the agency is considering regulating because of increased insect-borne public health risks like West Nile Virus and Lyme.rnThe panel could delay by another year long-standing efforts by a consumer products trade association to force EPA to regulate the chemicals.rnSince 1996, some pesticide products with active ingredients that are expected to be non-toxic are exempted from regulation under section 25(b) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). In a 2006 petition, the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) asked EPA to modify the minimum risk exemption so that products claiming to control public health pests are regulated, subjecting manufacturers to register them under FIFRA.rnIn the petition, CSPA argues that pesticides meeting the exemption requirements may not be effective to fight disease-carrying pests, such as mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus. The group argues the exemption jeopardizes public health, because consumers using ineffective pest control products are at risk for sickness or even death from insect "vectors" carrying disease.