Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

Many pesticide chemicals once used to control vertebrate pests are no longer registered in the U.S. Changes in pesticide laws and regulations have played a major role in the loss of vertebrate pesticides, but relatively few products, uses, or compounds have been lost because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that they were too hazardous to be registered. Most canceled products, use patterns, and chemicals have been lost because their registrants abandoned them, choosing not to pay the fees or data development costs necessary to maintain registrations. Pesticide users or other interested parties may be able to "save" a threatened use of a pesticide by generating the data needed to assess the claim. Federal law now requires EPA to publish lists of pesticide chemicals that are in danger of being lost because of nonsupport by their basic registrants.