The RPAR and 2,4,5-T1    (View PDF)

Harvey Warnick

Abstract: Pesticide usage in the United States is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The instrument of authority is the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, as amended. One of the many provisions of FIFRA regulations is the establishing of certain ""risk criteria"" for possible adverse effects of chemical pesticides. Any chemical which meets or exceeds one or more of these ""risk criteria"" is presumed to present an unreasonable risk to humans or the environment. A notice of such presumption [called a Rebuttable Presumption Against Registration (RPAR) notice] is published in the Federal Register. The EPA, after a comprehensive review of all available scientific data on the chemical herbicide 2,4,5-T, concluded that pesticide products containing 2,4,5-T presented an unreasonable risk to humans because the ""risk criteria"" for oncogenicity and teratogenicity/fetotoxicity were exceeded. EPA published its RPAR notice in the Federal Register on April 21, 1978. Interested parties were given until August 4, 1978 (105 days from the date of the RPAR Notice) to submit evidence in rebuttal or in support of the presumption. That evidence is currently being evaluated by EPA.

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https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.1979.005