The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is putting protections in place sooner near where pesticides are applied.  EPA will now assess the potential for people to be exposed to a pesticide when it drifts away from where it is applied earlier in the agency’s review process. This applies to new active ingredient pesticide registrations and new use decisions.  This updated process will protect people from pesticide spray drift 15 years sooner in the review process for new pesticides than has historically occurred.  This change is also consistent with the agency’s commitment to address environmental justice concerns from pesticide use in and around farm communities and to comply with the Endangered Species Act, where EPA is working to improve how it evaluates risk to and protects endangered species.  EPA will use chemical specific human health spray drift analyses to determine specific label instructions to protect against and reduce the occurrence of spray drift, such as droplet sizes and buffer distances, for each pesticide and use.  Additionally, if EPA identifies spray drift risks for people living or working nearby or non-target species, the agency will protect against those risks.  As part of this action, going forward EPA will now include a chemical specific human health spray drift analysis for:

• New active ingredients: any new submissions for domestic uses of new active ingredients.
• New uses and amended uses: any new use and amended use registration submissions where that active ingredient has previously received a chemical specific spray drift analysis.
• Currently pending registrations: registration actions that are currently under review with the agency, when possible.