503 



small number of mineral poisons were incapable of assuring quality 

 or safety in the use of the numerous pesticides entering the market by 

 1946. 



Problem. — Federal control to assure quality and safety of commer- 

 cial pesticides. 



Access to Congress. — Consultations of staff members of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture (USDA) with the House Agriculture Committee, 

 after consultations by USDA with the pesticide manufacturing indus- 

 try and pesticide users. 



The facts. — A bill was introduced and hearings held, in early 1946, 

 "to regulate the marketing of economic poisons and devices." There 

 was no controversy over the bill. It was favored by the industry and 

 by farm groups. No chamber action was taken that year and the bill 

 was again introduced in 1947. The second year, testimony was brief, 

 the bill was favorably reported, was passed without debate in both 

 Houses of Congress, and became law. 



Sources., kinds of technical information for Congress. — In hearings 

 before the House Agriculture Committee testimony was presented by 

 spokesmen for the Production and Marketing Administration of 

 USDA and the Fish and Wildlife Administration of the Department 

 of the Interior; by spokesmen for the manufacturing industry; and 

 by farm organizations and representatives of State departments of 

 agriculture. The testimony dealt only with minor technical issues; 

 there was general agreement on the desirability of the legislation. The 

 questions as to (a) the hazards of residual quantities of pesticides on 

 foods, and (b) the impact of long-lived, broad-band, high-potency 

 pesticides on the ecology were virtually untouched. 



Decision. — The 1947 Act provided for Federal controls over com- 

 merce in pesticides including registration of economic poisons before 

 their introduction into commerce; mandatorj'^ labelmg of poisons, 

 including instructions for safe use; and reports on delivery, move- 

 ment or inventory of economic poisons. 



Decision locus. — House Committee on Agriculture, endorsed by 

 chamber actions. 



Assessment. — The administrative arrangements provided under the 

 Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947 were expanded 

 in scope by subsequent amendment, and supplemented by creation of 

 an interdepartmental coordinating committee; a separate congres- 

 sional action provided for control of pesticide residues on foods. With 

 these tools, the agencies concerned were able to exercise control over 

 pesticides in use by 1969. 



Commentary. — Evidence of the far-reaching, complicated, and de- 

 layed effects of long-lived ("non-bio-degradabie") organic insecti- 

 cides (especially DDT) on wild species continued to accumulate. A 

 powerful indictment of the effects of the new pesticides on the natural 

 ecology appeared in 196i2. Protracted investigation by several con- 

 gressional committees led to the general conclusion that pesticides 

 were both essential and hazardous. Eesearch had been needed to place 

 pesticides in proper perspective — as to their complicated and indirect 

 effects on nature. Tliis research had been lacking in 1947. Existence 

 of a warning system to assess this research and the technology con- 

 cerned, to determine Government policy, would have enabled the 

 orderly development of controls. By 1969 it was becoming apparent 



