Just as surely as the cropdusters appear on the spring horizon to spray their mist of pesticides on the nation's agricultural lands, helicopters hover over forest lands to drop their mix of insect and weed killers, and lawn care services douse the suburbs with chemical agents, the Agriculture Committees in the United States Congress approach their seasonal task of reauthorizing the federal law intended to control those deadly sprays. Neither the start of the spray season, nor the seasonal legislative consideration of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is without controversy.

One of the most controversial and distressing aspects of the nation's 2.7 billion pounds of annual pesticide use is the alarming extent to which these toxic chemicals—which, unlike most toxics, are intentionally and legally disseminated into the human environment—remain untested for carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic effects. A report published in 1982 by the staff of a congressional subcommittee confirmed a decade of similar investigations, finding that 79 to 84 percent of pesticides lacked adequate carcinogenicity testing, 90 to 93 percent lacked adequate mutagenicity testing, and 60 to 70 percent lacked adequate testing for their tendency to cause birth defects.¹ More recently, in 1984, the National Academy of Science found that complete health hazards assessments for pesticides and inert ingredients of pesticide formulations are possible for only 10 percent of pesticides in use.² Many other problems exist, including a poor EPA enforcement record, extensive use of special exemptions from product registration requirements, drawn out administrative safety reviews, inadequate applicator training and certification, and major use problems that result in food, groundwater, and living and working space contamination.