EPA Releases Final Guidance for Antimicrobial Pesticides that Require Endangered Species Act Reviews
Released December 31, 2025
Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing final guidance on how the agency will conduct endangered species assessments for new active ingredients, new use, and registration review actions for antimicrobial pesticides. This guidance fulfills requirements outlined in the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022 (PRIA 5) and puts additional processes and environmental protections in place to ensure pesticide exposures are not posing risks to federally listed species or their critical habitats. Although this document does not create new requirements for pesticide registrants, the recommendations in the guidance will guide companies as they fully consider and address potential effects of antimicrobial pesticides to listed species.
PRIA 5 mandates that EPA develop and issue guidance to registrants regarding analyses necessary to support the evaluation of potential adverse effects from new outdoor uses of pesticide products on listed species and their designated critical habitats. While PRIA 5 focuses on outdoor uses, this guidance addresses all antimicrobial pesticide uses—including indoor uses—with the potential for exposures to listed species and critical habitats (e.g., antimicrobial pesticides used to treat water in industrial settings that are released directly into surface water). EPA took public comment on the draft guidance, and considered the comments, which covered topics from the scope and applicability of the guidance to concerns about new data requirements and updated the guidance where appropriate.
The finalized guidance focuses on information applicants may consider to inform label changes that reduce or eliminate the potential for effects to listed species and their critical habitats and identifies opportunities within the existing regulatory processes where applicants can discuss with EPA potential for effects and ways to reduce or eliminate potential exposure. EPA’s review of effects to endangered species is part of a robust human health and environmental assessment the agency does for every registered pesticide.
The guidance is available in docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0281 at www.regulations.gov.