The impact of the Food Quality Protection Act on the future of plant disease management

The Food Quality Protection Act mandates new considerations in pesticide regulatory decisions. Endocrine disruption, determination of the need for an additional safety factor for infants and children, aggregate exposure to each pesticide, and cumulative exposure to pesticides with a common mechanism of toxicity will all become part of the risk assessment process. A reduction in availability of fungicides for many current uses appears to be a likely result of this act. If this occurs, disease management programs, particularly in fruits and vegetables, will be challenged to find alternative approaches. Currently, fungicides play an important role in many production systems. Loss of these valuable pest management tools will contribute to increased costs for producers and consumers, as well as to complex issues facing the structure of agriculture in the United States.