The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) and its role in scientific peer-review of risks posed by pesticides

As the nation’s primary pesticide regulatory agency, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) makes decisions on a wide-range of pesticide uses in the United States. These decisions require that EPA review scientific data on risks that pesticides pose to wildlife, farm workers, pesticide applicators, and the general public through diet and exposure in homes, schools, parks, pools and golf courses. The scientific data involved in these decisions are complex, so to make the best decisions possible; EPA often seeks technical advice from outside the Agency by consulting the Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP). The SAP was established by Congress in 1975 through the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). It operates in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) of 1972 and is composed of seven members representing a breadth of scientific disciplines. It is augmented by additional experts (the Science Review Board or SRB) who assist in reviews. There are approximately 6 to 10 public meetings of the SAP held per year on a range of human health or environmental risk assessment issues. Meeting minutes are published within 90 days of each meeting. The scientists of the SAP and SRB neither make nor recommend policy decisions. They provide advice on the science used to make regulatory decisions. Their advice is invaluable to the EPA as it strives to protect the American people from risks posed by pesticides.