Pesticides: Regulating Pesticides

Though minimum risk pesticides are exempt from federal registration, there are requirements regarding label content, including prohibitions against certain label claims. Pesticides that qualify for federal exemption must bear a label identifying the name and percentage (by weight) of each active ingredient and the name of each inert ingredient. Because misleading marketing claims can lead to increased risks to public health, the following specific types of language are prohibited:

• In general, minimum risk pesticides are barred from making public health or antimicrobial pesticidal claims.  Therefore:



• products may not bear any claims to control or mitigate bacteria or viruses that pose a threat to human health, and



• product labels may not make claims to repel rodent or insect pests in a way that links the pest to specific diseases.  Some examples of this type of prohibited label language are: "repels ticks that carry Lyme disease" or "repels mosquitoes that can transmit malaria or encephalitis."

Examples of acceptable label claims include “repels ticks” or “repels mosquitoes.”

• The product must not include any false or misleading labeling statements:



• concerning the composition of the product
  

  Example: failure to identify active ingredient(s) by name and percentage by weight and each inert ingredient by name;

• involving comparisons with other pesticides
  

  Example: "Works better than Product X." Label claims regarding the effectiveness of pesticide products may only be made after EPA has reviewed efficacy data on the products. Since minimum risk pesticides are not registered by EPA, there is no mechanism for the Agency to review such data. Therefore, all comparisons and other efficacy-based claims are prohibited;

• concerning the value of the product for purposes other than as a pesticide, since pesticide product labels may not refer to nonpesticidal uses

  Example: "Kills weeds and also removes lime from automatic drip coffee machines";

• directly or indirectly implying that the pesticide is recommended or endorsed by any agency of the federal government

  Example: “Recommended by EPA as safe and exempt.” This kind of statement leads the consumer to believe that the federal government has made such a determination for a particular product. Because exempted products are not reviewed by EPA, this kind of statement is misleading;
  
  Example: “It is a Violation of Federal Law to Use this Product in a Manner Inconsistent with its Labeling.” This statement is required on federally registered pesticide products. It is misleading on minimum risk pesticide labels because it hints at federal registration though 25(b) pesticides are exempt;
  
  Example: “EPA Registration No.” or “EPA Establishment No.” These two examples are also false or misleading because they imply that the product is registered by EPA.

An example of a statement that the Agency would likely consider acceptable would be: “This product has not been registered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. [The name of the company] represents that this product qualifies for exemption from registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.”

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