THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT THIS CR ISSUE GO TO
Next Hit Forward Next Document New CR Search
Prev Hit Back Prev Document HomePage
Hit List Best Sections Daily Digest Help
Doc Contents
REGULATORY FAIRNESS AND OPENNESS ACT OF 1999 -- HON. ALLEN BOYD (Extensions
of Remarks - April 27, 1999)
[Page: E784] GPO's PDF
---
HON. ALLEN BOYD
OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1999
- Mr. BOYD. Mr. Speaker, crop protection tools are necessary for
family farmers to provide a safe and reliable food supply to the consumer and the
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) must use sound science to evaluate and determine which products are
dependable and safe. If this is not accomplished, safe and useful crop protection products will be
unavailable for use by the family farmer and the quality and affordability of wholesome
food supply will be
jeopardized.
- For this reason, I joined several of my colleagues today in introducing
the Regulatory Fairness and Openness and Act of 1999. This bipartisan
legislation will give EPA the ability to address potential problems with the
registration and re-registration processes for crop protection tools during the
implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. This bill
ensures that the EPA has the capability to adequately evaluate and analyze all
available, accessible data and information and to use the best science to
determine which crop protection
tools will be available for the family farmer. This Act does not change the
FQPA standards for pesticide evaluations, it clarifies the processes employed
for evaluation in order to allow for full and scientifically correct
compliance with the requirements of the FQPA.
- Without the Regulatory and Openness Act of 1999, many crop protection tools will be eliminated
for use by agriculture, putting the farmers in the United States at a
competitive disadvantage with foreign imports. These imports do not have to
meet the strict regulatory requirements that our farmers must follow.
- Further, if the EPA eliminates crop protection tools without allowing time
for the development of new alternatives, family farmers will lose crops to
pest infestations and the consumer will lose the quality and quantity of food available to them. This bill
encourages and supports research into expanded information gathering on the
use of crop protection tools and
research into the development of new alternatives for managing pests in
agriculture.