Pesticides in the United States

Pesticides in the United States are used predominantly by the agricultural sector,[1] but approximately a quarter of them are used in houses, yards, parks, golf courses, and swimming pools.

[6] In 2009, Paul Winchester, a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, wrote a paper that was published in Acta Paediatrica[7] reviewing national records for thirty million births, found that children conceived between April and July, when the concentration of atrazine, mixed with other pesticides, in water is highest, were more likely to have genital birth defects.

A 2010 study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, observed substantial adverse reproductive effects on fish from atrazine exposure at concentrations below the USEPA water-quality guideline.

[10] The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) was first passed in 1947, giving the United States Department of Agriculture responsibility for regulating pesticides.

[21] Researchers in California found that similar deformities in frogs in the U.S. and Canada may have been caused by breakdown products from pesticides whose use is categorized as not posing a threat.

It began in 1991 and tests food for the presence of various pesticides and if they exceed EPA tolerance levels for samples collected close to the point of consumption.