Improving Pesticide Registration? There Are Significant Problems With PRIA 5
October 8, 2024 At the Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) annual meeting, much of the discussion typically has to do with key issues that affect the agricultural marketplace. At the 2024 meeting, held in early September in Bloomington, MN, this was once again the case.
Alexandra “Alex” Dapolito Dunn, President/CEO for CropLife America, who started at the association back in March, told attendees that members have emphasized two words during the first few months of her tenure: Market access.
“For these folks, the key issue is about keeping pesticide products from reaching their customers,” said Dunn. “There are a lot of things that can jump up and get in the way of these products being able to do this.”
One particular example of this issue, she said, goes back to the many ongoing problems with the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA). Now in its fifth iteration (PRIA 5), this act was designed as a way for crop protection manufacturers to work with the government on registrations for their products. “The I in PRIA – improvement – is what we have a problem with,” said Dunn. “Bottom line: Your products are not being registered in a timely manner.”
Alex Dunn, CropLife America
As originally conceived, PRIA would have crop protection companies pay 30% of the costs to operate this program, with Congress appropriating the remaining 70%. According to Dunn, this was set up this way so that industry critics couldn’t claim companies were “buying registrations” by providing 100% of the funding.
However, while crop protection companies have held up their end of this financial arrangement, Dunn says Congress has not. “Under PRIA 5, Congress was supposed to provide the program with $166 million in funding, but the actual number has never gotten close to that,” she said. “And for the 2025 budget, this figure is still below that mark, at $134 million.”
In addition to a funding shortfall, Dunn also pointed to a manpower shortage at EPA. “From a high of 900 employees a few years ago, the number of people working on product registrations at EPA will fall to 453 by 2026,” she said. “And during the COVID years, many employees started working remotely. Today, Wednesdays are the one day when EPA people actually come into the office. Can you imagine working with your customers in-person only one day a week?”
Loading ...Dunn finished her talk promising MACA attendees that the association would do all it could to make improvements to PRIA 5. “CropLife America cannot sit idly by as the U.S. watches its status as a global leader for its science-based registration process atrophy,” she said.
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