OPP Posts Page on Nanotechnology and Pesticides

On July 22, 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) posted a web page entitled “Pesticide Issues in the Works:  Nanotechnology, the Science of Small.” The web page states: “[The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)] and EPA’s implementing regulations provide an effective framework for regulating pesticide products that are a product of nanotechnology or that contain nanoscale materials.” According to the page, “EPA is currently examining potential hazard, exposure, policy, regulatory, and international issues that may be associated with pesticides that are a product of nanotechnology or that contain nanoscale materials.” While EPA has met with several companies “to discuss requirements for some specific nanoscale materials being considered for use as pesticides,” EPA has not yet received a formal registration application. EPA “strongly recommends” that companies contact the pesticide registration Ombudsmen “to arrange a pre-application conference as early as possible in the development of any pesticide that would be a product of nanotechnology or that would contain nanoscale material.”