Background

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is an EPA-enforced act that regulates the distribution, sale, production, and use of pesticides and pesticide devices in the United States. Any substance intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate a pest is considered a pesticide and must be approved by FIFRA. Under FIFRA, "the label is the law," meaning that to lawfully use a pesticide, the directions and warnings prescribed on a pesticide's label must be followed exactly. As there is little active enforcement of pesticides following their approval, registering a pesticide with FIFRA is a time-consuming and data-intensive process. Pesticides will only be approved if 1.) The registrant supplies ample data to demonstrate that the pesticide works as intended without adverse impact to humans, non-target organisms, and environments, and 2.) The EPA's analyses of the registrant's data and existing scientific literature indicate a pesticide can be used with "reasonable certainty of no harm."