Pesticides

Export of Unregistered Pesticides Is Not Adequately Monitored by EPA Gao ID: RCED-89-128 April 25, 1989

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act's (FIFRA) provisions regarding pesticide notification requirements.

GAO found that: (1) EPA lacked an effective program to monitor pesticide manufacturers' compliance with pesticide export notification requirements; (2) pesticide notices did not include sufficient and meaningful information for foreign governments to adequately identify pesticide products; (3) the EPA policy of exempting unregistered pesticide products because of their similarity and use hindered its efforts to monitor pesticide manufacturers' compliance with the notification requirements; (4) EPA received notices from about 26 percent of companies that exported 80 percent of unregistered pesticide products to the United States; (5) EPA lacked internal procedures for preparing and issuing notices to foreign countries and international organizations regarding significant action on individual pesticides; and (6) an EPA booklet on cancelled, suspended, or restricted pesticides was outdated, and foreign governments lacked current pesticide guidelines.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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