Officials with the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) recently indicated several pesticides are in the reevaluation process.
Following California’s evaluation and registration of a pesticide for use or sale in the state, DPR conducts a process called continuous evaluation to address new information about pesticide risks and impacts on human health and the environment. DPR uses this information to assess potential risks from pesticide use and to inform mitigation measures (restrictions on a pesticide’s use). Reevaluation is one action that DPR can take to continuously evaluate pesticides.
Reevaluation is a formal process outlined in state statute and regulation (Food and Agricultural Code section 12824 and California Code of Regulations, Title 3, Section 6220, et seq.) to assess a pesticide’s risks, impacts or adverse effects on people and the environment. During the process of reevaluation, DPR scientists need to determine if mitigation measures are necessary to protect people and the environment. If mitigation is necessary, DPR determines what mitigation is needed to control any significant adverse risks or impacts identified by DPR. Reevaluation can involve DPR requiring additional data and information from product manufacturers, identifying significant adverse effects, and increasing restrictions on a product’s sales or use to mitigate significant adverse impacts on human health or the environment. If risks cannot be mitigated, DPR can cancel a product’s registration.
DPR cannot complete a reevaluation until any necessary mitigation requirements are developed and in place. Mitigation development can involve a number of different factors and until DPR completes its risk determinations, the department cannot precisely estimate the time for completion of implementing necessary mitigation.
DPR will continue to provide updates to share information on its actions to identify and evaluate potential adverse effects of pesticides, and its work to develop mitigation measures to address identified significant adverse effects. In the future this update will include the pesticides under risk assessment, reevaluation, or under mitigation development, and provide the current status and projected timelines associated with each of those actions.
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation protects human health and the environment by fostering safer and sustainable pest management practices and operating a robust regulatory system to monitor and manage the sale and use of pesticides across the state. DPR’s work includes registering all pesticides sold or used in California, conducting scientific evaluation of pesticides to assess and mitigate potential harm to human health or the environment, investing in innovative research to encourage the development and adoption of integrated pest management tools and practices, monitoring for pesticides in the air and water, conducting outreach to ensure pesticide workers, farmworkers and local communities have access to safety information, and enforcing pesticide regulations in coordination with 55 County Agricultural Commissioners and their 500 field inspectors.
For more information, contact the Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Pesticide Registration Branch by emailing Registration.Ombudsman@cdpr.ca.gov. Visit DPR’s Pesticide Registration Branch webpage for more information.
