adequate research information on the safety of a chemical in itself. We must develop 
adequate information on the formulations used, under the conditions of use. If a coccidio- 
stat in a broiler mash has been demonstrated to result in no detectable residue, will this 
also be true when a high level of antibiotic is added to the same feed? 
Because milk comprises more than a fourth of the weight of food eaten and a far 
higher proportion of that of infants and of many special diets, no tolerances for residues 
have been established in milk. This policy poses three research problems for this 
Department. First, the verification that proposed pesticide and other chemical uses 
will or will not result in residues in milk. Since it is not possible to prove absence of 
residue but only presence, reliable, sensitive, quick analytic methods are of utmost 
importance. 
Second, we need more research to develop pesticide chemicals for use on feed 
crops, dairy animals and premises, which will leave no residue in milk. 
Third, in areas where use of pesticides, desiccants, defoliants, and other chemicals 
is general and especially in areas where aerial application is general, we urgently need 
research on more precise application to avoid inadvertent residues in milk as well as 
more effective use of the chemicals. 
The breadth of the Department’s research interest in agricultural chemicals is the 
total span of the Department’s research activities. No commodity, no functional area, no 
resource area, no economic or marketing area is untouched directly or indirectly by the 
efficacy and safety of these chemicals. 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture has research responsibility for the development 
of recommendations for chemical uses which will be safe, effective, economical, and 
reliable for farmers, for the public, and for regulatory agencies. A severalfold expansion 
in basic research on the metabolism of crop and livestock species and of their parasites, 
predators, and competitors is necessary. Special emphasis must be placed on analytic 
methods, first, to establish conformity withestablished tolerances with permitted use and, 
of equal importance, to establish incontrovertibly the presence of illegal residues resulting 
from inadvertent contamination or illegal use. 
REGULATORY AND CONTROL PROGRAMS ON USE OF CHEMICALS 
W. L. Popham! 
The subject assigned to me was ‘‘Responsibility of the Department of Agriculture 
For Use of Chemicals in Agriculture.’’ It is agriculture’s responsibility to see that the 
people of this country derive maximum benefit from agricultural chemicals. To do this, 
of course, they must be used safely. Chemicals are an essential production tool. They 
proved our ‘‘frontier’’ in time of most urgent need. If we are to continue producing the 
food we need, in the variety and quality we want, we have no immediate substitute for 
chemicals. In my book we have the competence to deal with them in such a way as to de- 
rive full benefit without harm to anyone. We have no alternative but to recognize that 
chemicals are essential to our well-being, can be used safely, and offer our most 
promising answer to adequate food for the future. 
As Dr. Byerly has pointed out, both the Department of Agriculture and the Depart- 
ment of Health, Education, and Welfare have certain functions to perform in assuring a 
1Deputy Administrator, Agricultural Research Service, U. S, Department of Agriculture, 
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