Pesticide Safety Improvement Act of 1991

Pesticide Safety Improvement Act of 1991 - Title I: Pesticide Safety - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to revise specified definitions of such Act.

Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, at any time he has information with respect to the dietary risk of an active ingredient, to: (1) reassess associated tolerances and exemptions from tolerances issued under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA); (2) determine whether such tolerances or exemptions meet the requirements of such Act and whether additional tolerances or exemptions should be issued; and (3) take specified administrative actions.

Authorizes (currently, requires) the Administrator to cancel pesticide registrations after five years unless the registrant requests a continuance. Permits the continued sale and use of pesticides with suspended registrations if they will not have unreasonable adverse environmental effects.

Authorizes the Administrator to issue a final order to ensure that: (1) a pesticide or other materials required to be submitted to the Administrator comply with FIFRA requirements; and (2) the pesticide will not generally cause unreasonable adverse environmental effects. Permits final orders to: (1) cancel the registration of a pesticide (or the registrations of a group of pesticides containing a common active or inert ingredient) and prohibit the future registration of such pesticide; (2) prescribe composition, packaging, labeling, and registration requirements for pesticides and provide for the cancellation or modification of pesticides not meeting requirements; and (3) classify a pesticide for restricted use or change the classification of a pesticide.

Authorizes the Administrator to initiate a proceeding with respect to the cancellation or modification of a pesticide registration if there are concerns that such pesticide may cause unreasonable adverse effects on man or the environment.

Directs the Administrator, before issuing a proposed order to cancel or change the classification of a pesticide, to consult with the Secretary of Agriculture and, if the order is based upon potential adverse effects to human health, the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Requires the Administrator to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Secretaries with respect to consultation on orders to cancel, suspend, or modify a registration.

Exempts specified proceedings and proposed orders from a requirement that the Administrator first determine that there are concerns that a pesticide causes adverse health or environmental effects.

Directs the Administrator to establish an administrative record for each cancellation or modification proceeding. Sets forth provisions concerning proposed order requirements, public notice and comment on orders, review by the Secretaries and the Scientific Advisory Panel, informal hearings, and final orders.

Permits the Administrator to issue an order to allow the continued sale or use of existing stocks of canceled pesticides.

Permits affected registrants to: (1) apply for amendments to a registration to make it comply with an order; or (2) request voluntary cancellation of the registration.

Authorizes interested persons to petition for the issuance, modification, or revocation of final orders.

Sets forth judicial and public administrative review procedures.

Authorizes the Administrator, if determined that the use of a pesticide may result in an imminent hazard, to issue an order suspending registration of the pesticide. Makes such order effective upon publication in the Federal Register or upon receipt by the registrant, whichever occurs first. Provides for the expiration of such order 180 days after the effective date, unless the Administrator publishes a proposed cancellation order for the pesticide. Requires the Administrator to notify the Secretaries prior to issuing a suspension order. Authorizes the continued sale or use of existing stocks of suspended pesticides. Sets forth provisions concerning the duration of the suspension and petitions for reconsiderations of suspensions. Makes orders and denials of reconsiderations subject to judicial review. Sets forth information to be considered by the Administrator in determining whether a risk is imminent.

Requires registrants of pesticide products registered before November 1, 1984, to submit updated registration information to the Administrator by the later of: (1) 20 years after the first pesticide product was registered; or (2) 10 years after the date on which the Administrator determines that such products are eligible for reregistration. Directs registrants of pesticide products registered after October 31, 1984, to submit such information 10 years after the first product was registered and every ten years thereafter. Provides for extensions of such deadlines under specified conditions. Authorizes the Administrator to issue suspension orders for failures to comply with submission deadlines. Permits cancellations of registrations remaining suspended for more than three years. Authorizes the Administrator to assess fees from registrants for the periodic review of such registrations. Permits the Administrator to cancel registrations for failures to pay fees.

Authorizes the Administrator to require pesticide importers, exporters, commercial applicators, and dealers, applicants or holders of experimental use permits, owners and operators of pesticide testing facilities, and any other pesticide holders subject to FIFRA requirements to maintain and make available specified records. Requires pesticide dealers to maintain records for at least three years after the distribution or sale of a pesticide. Exempts the following records from such requirement: (1) financial, pricing, or sales data other than shipment data; (2) personnel data, except for data concerning pesticide exposure effects; or (3) specified research or test data.

Revises provisions concerning inspections and warrants to conduct such inspections.

Requires the Administrator, upon the request of a State, to disclose any information acquired under FIFRA to the State if the State assures that: (1) the submitter of confidential business information will receive no less protection with respect to the disclosure or use of the information by the State than is provided by FIFRA; and (2) the State's law allows the submitter to recover just compensation against the State for losses resulting from the disclosure or use of such information by the State.

Deletes provisions exempting private pesticide applicators from recordkeeping and reporting requirements and from taking examinations to establish competency in the use of pesticides.

Makes it a violation of FIFRA for any person to use a pesticide as a commercial applicator unless such person is a certified commercial applicator or a registered commercial applicator under the supervision of a certified applicator. Sets forth requirements for certified and commercial applicators.

Requires a restricted use pesticide to be considered to have been applied by, or under the direct supervision of, a certified private applicator only if the pesticide is applied by a person who is a certified private applicator or a private applicator under the supervision of a certified applicator. Sets forth requirements for certified and supervised applicators.

Requires certified and registered commercial applicators to undergo refresher training and to be recertified or reregistered at least every five years. Sets forth minimum recertification and reregistration requirements.

Directs the Administrator to develop training material for the application of pesticides, including material concerning the detection of pesticide poisoning, emergency medical treatment, hazards posed by pesticides to public health and the environment, and the requirements of laws, regulations, and labeling. Provides for periodic updates of such material.

Requires the Administrator to establish minimum standards for trainers and training programs with respect to commercial and private applicators. Directs the Administrator to prescribe programs for States whose programs fail to comply with such standards. Provides that privately-administered programs shall be at least as stringent as Federal or State programs. Requires Federal and State field personnel responsible for on-site inspections of pesticide use to have training which, at a minimum, includes the required training material subjects issued by the Administrator.

Revises provisions concerning unlawful acts.

Increases and expands the scope of civil and criminal penalties for FIFRA violations. Prescribes penalties for violations involving knowing endangerment.

Revises provisions concerning State authority to regulate pesticides to authorize a State to regulate the sale or use of any federally registered pesticide or device in the State if the Administrator approves the State plan for regulation and if such regulation does not permit any sale or use prohibited by FIFRA. Sets forth requirements for State plans, as well as for plans for regulation by political subdivisions of States.

Directs the Administrator to identify crop-pest combinations that appear vulnerable to excessive losses because of pest resistance or because of the potential loss of existing pest control options and the chemical, biological, and alternative control measures available to control such pests.

Directs the Secretary to furnish to the Administrator on an ongoing basis information on: (1) the food consumption patterns of consumers and major identifiable subgroups of food consumers in the United States; and (2) the use of pesticides in commercial-scale agricultural production and in the storage, transportation, and processing of food. Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to furnish to the Administrator on an ongoing basis information on the representative actual levels of pesticide residues on food items. Provides that such information shall ensure that information on the approximate actual level of human dietary exposure to pesticides is readily available to the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to establish a program for the storage, management, retrieval, and utilization of such information and to use such information in making decisions under FIFRA and FDCA. Requires the Administrator to assume, if information regarding actual use and residue levels has not been made available, that a pesticide results in dietary residues on food at the highest level permitted under a FDCA tolerance or reasonably feasible under a FDCA exemption. Authorizes appropriations.

Revises provisions concerning voluntary cancellations of registrations by registrants. Directs the Administrator, prior to publication of a cancellation request in the Federal Register, to notify the Secretary of Agriculture of: (1) the chemicals and pesticide uses that may be affected; (2) the available biological, cultural, integrated pest management, and alternative chemical control options; and (3) the extent of the acreage and geographic distribution of the acreage of the crop affected by the target pest controlled by the pesticide use subject to cancellation and regions where the crop is currently grown without significant problems for such pest.

Authorizes any person to petition the Administrator to delay cancellation of a minor agricultural use registration for up to three years. Sets forth petition requirements and approval procedures. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, for each minor use registration for which a delay in cancellation has been granted, to require the Assistant Secretary for Science and Education to research alternative pest control methods. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on alternative pest control methods. Directs the Administrator to report annually to such committees on efforts to expedite the registration of biological alternatives to conventional pesticides.

Directs the Secretary to establish a minor use registration support program within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Science and Education. Requires the Assistant Secretary to seek registrations for agricultural minor uses, gather data to support existing registrations for minor uses, seek tolerances and tolerance exemptions, and gather data to support new tolerances and the maintenance of existing tolerances for minor uses. Authorizes appropriations. Permits the Administrator to waive fees for minor use registrations or reregistrations, except for fees required by persons petitioning for delays in cancellations.

Directs the Administrator to require residue data to support tolerances only for those geographical areas where the registration of any product allows the use. Authorizes the Administrator to require additional residue data if the registrant wishes to expand the geographical area where the product may be used.

Makes technical amendments to administrative provisions concerning registrations and judicial review.

Title II: Tolerances and Exemptions for Pesticide Chemical Residues - Amends the FDCA to provide that pesticide residues in or on a raw agricultural commodity or processed food do not make the food adulterated. Revises provisions concerning adulterated food.

Deems pesticide chemical residues in or on a food to be unsafe unless a tolerance, or exemption to a tolerance, is in effect with respect to the chemical residue and the concentration of the residue is in the limits of the tolerance. Provides that: (1) pesticide chemical residues in or on processed foods without separate tolerances shall not be considered unsafe so long as the residue level is within the tolerance limit for the raw agricultural commodity from which the food was made; and (2) residues in or on processed foods made from raw agricultural commodities for which a residue exemption is in effect shall not be considered unsafe. Provides that residues of degradation products of precursor substances that are pesticide chemicals shall not be considered unsafe if: (1) the combined residues of the precursor substance and the degradation products are within the level of the tolerance for the precursor substance; or (2) an exemption is in effect for the precursor substance and the tolerance or exemption does not state that it applies solely to the precursor chemical.

Authorizes the Administrator to establish, modify, or revoke a tolerance or exemption from a tolerance for a pesticide chemical residue. Prohibits a tolerance from being established at a level higher than a level that the Administrator determines will protect public health. Requires the Administrator to modify or revoke such higher tolerances. Provides that a tolerance will protect the public health if the dietary risk posed to food consumers is not greater than negligible. Establishes thresholds for negligible risks with respect to adverse health risks.

Authorizes the Administrator to establish a tolerance for a residue that results in a greater than negligible risk if: (1) use of the pesticide producing the residue protects humans or the environment from adverse effects that would result in greater risks than the dietary risk from the chemical; (2) use of the chemical avoids risks to humans or the environment that would result from the use of an alternative pesticide chemical on the same food and the Administrator has taken action to remove the alternative pesticide chemical under FIFRA and has initiated a tolerance revocation action for the chemical; or (3) the unavailability of the chemical would reduce the availability to food consumers of an adequate and economical domestic supply of the food and the adverse economic or health effects to consumers would outweigh the dietary risk from the residue. Prohibits such tolerances from being issued, or revocations of such tolerances from being denied, unless: (1) the Administrator has assessed the extent to which efforts are being made to develop alternative methods of pest control or alternative pesticide chemicals for use on the food or commodity that would meet risk exposure requirements; (2) the tolerance is limited to a period of five years; and (3) the Administrator has proposed the issuance or denial in accordance with specified administrative requirements.

Prohibits a tolerance from being established unless there is a practical method for detecting and measuring the levels of the pesticide residue in or on the food.

Permits exemptions to tolerances to be made only if the Administrator determines that a tolerance is not needed to protect the public health.

Permits persons to petition for the establishment, modification, or revocation of a tolerance or exemption. Sets forth petitioning procedures and judicial review provisions.

Entitles tolerance or exemption information submitted to the Administrator under FDCA and registration information submitted under FIFRA to confidential treatment, with specified exceptions.

Requires the Administrator to revoke or suspend tolerances consistent with, and following, the cancellation or suspension of a pesticide's registration under FIFRA.

Permits delays of the effective dates of a modification or revocation of a tolerance, subject to certain conditions.

Requires the Administrator to collect fees for functions regarding the establishment, modification, or revocation of tolerances and exemptions.

Prohibits States or political subdivisions from enforcing any limit on a pesticide residue unless the limit is identical to the Federal tolerance or exemption for the residue. Authorizes the Administrator to grant States the authority to establish more stringent residue limits if such limits are warranted by special local circumstances. Permits the Administrator to treat such authority as a petition to modify or revoke a tolerance.

Authorizes appropriations for increased monitoring by the Secretary of Health and Human Services of pesticide residues in imported and domestic foods.

Title III: Adulterated Poultry Products - Amends the Poultry Products Inspection Act to make a conforming amendment to provide that pesticide residues in or on raw agricultural commodities or processed foods do not make the food adulterated. Deems commodities or processed foods containing residues that are unsafe under FDCA standards to be adulterated.

Title IV: Adulterated Meat and Meat Products - Amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act to make amendments parallel to those made to the Poultry Products Inspection Act.

Title V: Adulterated Eggs and Egg Products - Amends the Egg Products Inspection Act to make amendments parallel to those made to the Poultry Products Inspection Act.