The Implementation Working Group is a coalition of more than 60 food, agriculture, pest management and related organizations that support full, fair and science based implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). IWG members include national and regional representatives of farm, commodity and speciality crop organizations and cooperatives; food processors and marketers; manufacturers of agricultural and speciality pesticides; pest control operators; research organizations; and others. See current list of IWG Members.
To ensure that the FQPA is implemented using sound science and addresses real public health risks, the IWG:
Passed unanimously by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1996, the Food Quality Protection Act significantly changes the way pesticides are evaluated and registered by the Environmental Protection Agency. The FQPA replaces the archaic, scientifically outdated Delaney Clause with a single health-based standard of a "reasonable certainty of no harm." EPA compares this standard to a theoretical risk cup that holds the amount of pesticide residue that a person can be exposed to without affecting health.
FQPA changed the two basic laws in this country dealing with food safety and pesticide use in this country -- the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). FIFRA requires that pesticides be registered for use in this country and establishes labeling and other regulatory requirements to prevent unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment. FFDCA says that foods that contain pesticide residues are not to be marketed in this country unless the residues are below safe levels called tolerances. The EPA establishes the tolerances, and the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture enforce them.
Before FQPA, each pesticide had its own risk cup, which held only the risk from exposure to the pesticide's use on food crops, for example, from corn and apples. After FQPA, the risk cup must now make room not only for residues on food, but also from those found in drinking water, from uses in and around the home, such as on lawns and gardens, and on public spaces, such as parks, rights-of-way and golf courses. Exposure from these multiple sources is combined as "aggregate" risk. When data pertaining to a pesticide's effects on children's health call for it, EPA also may add an extra tenfold or more margin of safety. Furthermore, under a concept known as "cumulative" risk, if two or more pesticides act on human health in the same manner, FQPA requires them to share a common risk cup.
The IWG fully supports the fundamental goals of the law, particularly the special emphasis on protecting children and the establishment of a uniform public health standard. The IWG believes that the FQPA should be implemented in a balanced way to avoid serious negative effects on pest management and production of food and fiber in the United States, with subsequent adverse impacts on the health and well being of the American public.
The IWG strongly believes the EPA has sufficient flexibility to pursue balanced and reliable implementation of the FQPA. In this way, EPA can achieve the FQPA goals and avoid serious negative effects on pest management and agricultural production in the United States.
However, based on decisions EPA has made to date under the FQPA, many safe pest management products essential to the protection of public health and agricultural production may be in unnecessary jeopardy. EPA has used and is considering some very conservative default assumptions in its risk assessment; for example, farm ponds, filled with runoff from the cornfield and the barnyard, are the source of our drinking water. Such assumptions ignore real-world data, disregard sound science and make the risk cup artificially overflow, crowding out pesticide uses. Safety is not enhanced. Valuable pesticides and their uses are lost unnecessarily. Further, there have been significant delays in EPA decisions on new pesticide products and emergency exemptions called for in FQPA.
By joining the IWG, you will become part of a unique coalition that is committed to human health and safety, the quality of our environment, the future of agriculture in this country and the availability and use of safe, effective and affordable products that protect us from pests, diseases and related problems.
As part of the IWG, you will have access to some of the best, most advanced scientific thinking and analysis of FQPA technical and policy issues and you will be part of a coalition that can most effectively work with Congress and the Administration to ensure full, fair and science based implementation of the FQPA.
Membership in the IWG is open to any individual, company, corporation, or local, state, regional or national group that produces, processes or sells food, fiber or other products produced with the help of pesticides, or represents persons involved in the manufacturing or use of pesticide products for agricultural and non-agricultural uses. Membership applications are subject to the approval of the IWG Steering Committee.
For more information, please go to How to Join the IWG
