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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
2006-P-00028
August 1, 2006
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Why We Did This Review
We initiated this review to
determine the ability of the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) Office of
Pesticide Programs (OPP) to
measure its performance in
meeting the mandates of the
Food Quality Protection Act
(FQPA). We sought to
determine the strengths and
weaknesses of OPP's current
measuring system, how OPP
can use existing data to
measure, and what impact
FQPA had on mitigating
dietary pesticide exposure risk
on children's health. This is
the third in a series of three
reports on FQPA.
Background
The goal of EPA's pesticide
program is to protect public
health and the environment by
ensuring pesticides are used
safely. FQPA changed the
way OPP regulates pesticides
and emphasizes protecting
children's health.
Measuring the Impact of the Food Quality
Protection Act: Challenges and Opportunities
What We Found
Although EPA has made progress in implementing the requirements of the FQPA,
we found that OPP has primarily measured its success and the impact of FQPA by
adherence to its reregistration schedule rather than by reductions in risk to
children's health. The measures used by OPP generally indicate actions taken,
instead of environmental or human health outcomes achieved. OPP lacks outcome
measures to assess the specific impact of those actions on the health of children
and others. OPP has recently taken steps to develop outcome measures, but
significant challenges remain.
By integrating existing data into a suite of performance measures, OPP can better
track the effectiveness of regulatory decisions and program performance. We
identified several pools of quantitative data available for use as a suite of
performance indicators, but coordination efforts will be needed. OPP can better
utilize a number of data and measurement sources, including the National Health
and Nutrition Examination Survey and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Pesticide Data Program, to track health-based indicators of children's health risks.
EPA can measure the impact of FQPA on children's health more efficiently
through the examination of pesticide exposure data, and changes in usage patterns,
substitutions, and import trends. We used the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Pesticide Data Program data to illustrate dietary risk changes since the passage of
FQPA in toxicity risks on the foods commonly consumed by children.
What We Recommend
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional and Public
Liaison at (202) 566-2391.
To view the full report,
click on the following link:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2006/
20060801 -2006-P-00028.pdf
To view a supplemental report
with additional details, click on:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2006/
20060801 -2006-P-00028A.pdf
We recommend that OPP work to move away from primarily using outputs as
performance measures, and implement a suite of output and outcome measures to
assess the human health and environmental impacts of its work. We also
recommend that OPP pursue revision of EPA's goal structure as appropriate, and
work with other EPA program offices and other Federal agencies to obtain needed
data. EPA generally agreed with the recommendations, and expressed its
appreciation for our findings. We made changes where appropriate.

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