 Enacted August 3, 1996  No amendments since  United States Federal Law  Amended:  Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)  Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)  The EPA worked for ten years to make the changes in national pesticide regulation that led to the FQPA  “Landmark bipartisan agreement that will bring Federal regulation of the Nation's food producers into the 21st century."

 The Food Quality Protection Act amends prior pesticide legislation under FIFRA and FFDCA to establish a more consistent, protective regulatory scheme, based on sound science. It mandates a single, health-based standard for all pesticides in all foods; provides special protections for infants and children; expedites approval of safer pesticides, and creates incentives for the development and maintenance of effective crop protection tools for American farmers. It also requires periodic reevaluation of pesticide registrations and tolerances to ensure that the scientific data supporting pesticide registrations will remain up to date in the future.  The FQPA primarily influences the pesticide industry. It dictates regulation of such products to ensure and support production of one of the most abundant, affordable, and healthy food supplies in the world while simultaneously meeting America's other pest control needs safely.

 With the enactment of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, Congress presented the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the enormous challenge of implementing the most comprehensive and historic overhaul of the Nation's pesticide and food safety laws in decades. It dramatically changes the way the EPA evaluates and regulates pesticides. The law requires EPA to establish a system for periodic review of all pesticide registrations, aimed at updating them on a 15-year cycle. The goal of this requirement is to ensure that all pesticides continue to meet up-to-date standards for safety testing, public health, and environmental protection. Within 10 years, EPA must reassess all existing tolerances, considering pesticides that appear to pose the greatest risks first, to ensure that they meet FQPA’s new safety standard. In completing each review of a registered pesticide’s human health and environmental effects, the Agency makes changes to the pesticide’s registration where necessary to reduce risks.