STATE PESTICIDE REGULATORY PROGRAMS AND THE FOOD SAFETY CONTROVERSY

The food safety controversy has engulfed many state, as well as federal, pesticide regulatory agencies. A handful of states with well-developed statutory authority to regulate pesticides were early targets of advocacy groups intent on focusing public attention on pesticide residues in food. State programs vary widely in authority, size, and scope. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has the most comprehensive of the state regulatory programs. CDFA's regulatory system includes pesticide evaluation and registration, pesticide dealer and pest control operator licensing, pesticide use surveillance, worker safety and environmental studies and monitoring, biological control activities, and a multi-functional pesticide residue monitoring program, which is the largest in the country. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) regulatory system is the second largest state pesticide residue monitoring program in the nation. Florida performs more than 10,000 determinations on approximately 4,000 food and feed samples annually. Most states have pesticide regulatory programs which encompass one or more of the above functions. This paper discusses the California and Florida systems as representative of the states' role in the national food protection program. Also discussed are the effects of the current crisis of public confidence in the safety of the food supply on state programs, as reflected by the California experience in the 1980's.