Pesticide Makers Making Headway With Risk Assessment Argument

Abstract

For several years, representatives of agricultural chemical makers who tried to explain the intricacies of risk assessment to members of Congress met with blank stares. Persistence seems to have paid off, however, because Congress is beginning to give serious consideration to the usefulness of risk assessment in setting regulatory priorities and formulating final regulations on use of chemicals. More acceptance of risk assessment will help pesticide makers, whose products for years have been the focus of legislative and regulatory activity. At a meeting of the National Agricultural Chemicals Association (NACA) in Washington, D.C., late last month, representatives from companies all over the country were told how this shift in policy and how other pesticide issues will be handled by the government in the foreseeable future. Overall, there seems to be some movement toward softening the previous hard-line stance on the toxicity of agricultural chemicals. The Administration's recent proposals to revise ...