Employees 390 staff | ||
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Headquarters 1001 I Street Sacramento, California Annual budget $83.1 million (2013-2014); $87.7 million (2014-2015 estimated);
$90.9 million (2015-2016 proposed) Agency executives Brian R. Leahey, Director
Christopher Reardon, Chief Deputy Directory Parent agency California Environmental Protection Agency Website | ||
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation, also known as DPR or CDPR, is one of six boards and departments of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).
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The stated mission of DPR is to protect human health and the environment by regulating pesticide sales and use, and by fostering reduced-risk pest management. DPR's work includes:
DPR is regarded as the premier U.S. agency for pesticide regulation, the acknowledged peer of United States Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada, and as an international authority in the field.
History
California passed its first pesticide-related law in 1901, just three years after New York passed the nation's first pesticide law in 1898. The focus of California's first law was on preventing consumer fraud for sale of the most widely used insecticide, Paris green. Following the United States Congress passage of the first federal pesticide legislation, the Federal Insecticide and Rodenticide Act in 1910, California passed corresponding legislation, the State Insecticide and Fungicide Act of 1911. Similar to the federal act, at this time, the legislation was primarily concerned with mislabeling and adulteration of pesticides.
In the 1920s, the public began to raise concerns about pesticide residues in food as agricultural pesticide use, reports of illnesses, and seizures of fruit with high arsenic levels conducted by health officials increased. These changes prompted the state's pesticide regulatory program, which was at that time part of the California Department of Agriculture (also known as CDA and renamed as the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 1972), to begin analyzing fresh produce for pesticide residues and set allowable residue levels, or tolerances.
New pesticides prompted additional controls in the decades to follow. In 1925, there were about 1,700 pesticide products in California, which doubled to about 3,500 products in 1935, and grew to 7,000 pesticide products in 1945.
In 1969 and 1970, California passed landmark legislation that required pesticides to be thoroughly evaluated prior to being registered for use. Additionally, more authority was given to the department, allowing them to strengthen the study criteria for which pesticide manufacturers were required to submit and to make restrictions on how pesticides are used. Another major component of the legislation required the department to begin “an orderly program of continuous evaluation of pesticides already registered and eliminate from use those posing a danger to the agricultural or nonagricultural environment."
In 1972, CDFA was given the primary responsibility for ensuring “the safe use of pesticides and for safe working conditions for farmworkers, pest control applicators, and other persons handling, storing or applying pesticides, or working in and about pesticide-treated areas.” The department carried out the mandate by adopting regulations outlining rules on pesticide handling, pesticide storage, protective clothing, worker entry into treated fields, and field posting. At this time, the county agricultural commissioners (CACs) were given joint responsibility, along with CDFA, to enforce these regulations, and both the CDFA and the Department of Health were given “joint and mutual responsibility” for developing pesticide worker safety regulations. When Cal/EPA was formed in 1991, the aforementioned roles were transferred to DPR and Cal/EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), respectively.
Recent Accomplishments
DPR continues to complete risk assessments and risk reduction measures on chemicals that pose the highest risks to human health and the environment. Protection of workers remains paramount, and these activities are consistently improved and expanded. Recent accomplishments are described below.
From 2012 to 2014, DPR continued to advance the protection of California’s residents and environment, including:
Departmental Organization
DPR is organized into two divisions: Pesticide Programs and Administrative Services. The Pesticide Programs includes the following branches:
The Administrative Services Division includes:
Employee Composition and Funding
DPR's scientific responsibilities are fulfilled by a highly educated and trained professional staff of about 390 individuals. The staff include toxicologists, environmental specialists, statisticians, epidemiologists, community outreach workers, and industrial hygienists. Additionally, under DPR oversight, the CACs and approximately 250 of their biologists serve as the local enforcement agents for pesticide laws and regulations in California's 58 counties.
In fiscal year 2015-2016 DPR was budgeted for approximately $90.9 million, almost 98% of the funding coming from regulatory fees, primarily levied on pesticide sales at the point of first sale into the state, and penalties and the remaining 2% coming from federal funds from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture.