Biopesticide Oversight and Registration at the US Environmental Protection Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is committed to encouraging the development and use of biopesticides and considers them inherently reduced-risk pesticides. Biopesticides (microbial pesticides, biochemical pesticides, and plant-incorporated protectants) are required to be evaluated by EPA. The Agency must make findings of "no unreasonable adverse effects" to man and the environment to support its registration decision to permit sale and distribution under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as well as a "reasonable certainty of no harm" under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to permit residues in food and/or feed. This chapter will review areas including how EPA views the benefits of biopesticides, related laws and legal requirements, biopesticide registration, and biopesticide data requirements. EPA's commitment to low risk biological pesticides as alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides will also be emphasized.