Habitat and Biodiversity

U.S. Environmental Regulations for Habitat and Biodiversity

To insure the well being of farm workers and consumers, to protect the environment, federal and individual state governments have passed laws that regulate activities associated with cotton production. In addition, these governments have created incentive programs to further conserve wildlife habitat and diversity.

Regulatory Compliance

Farmers must comply with many regulations to protect the safety of farm workers, consumers and the environment. Federal laws that impact cotton production in the United States include:

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The primary focus of the FIFRA is to provide federal control of pesticide distribution, sale and use. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was given authority under FIFRA not only to study the consequences of pesticide usage, but also to require users (farmers, utility companies, and others) to register when purchasing pesticides. Through amendments to the law, users also must take exams for certification as applicators of pesticides. All pesticides used in the U.S. must be registered (licensed) by EPA. Registration assures that pesticides will be properly labeled and that, if used in accordance with specifications, will not cause unreasonable harm to the environment.
• Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA ). FQPA amended FIFRA in 1996. Major changes include stricter safety standards, especially for infants and children, and a complete reassessment of all existing pesticide tolerances.
• Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). TSCA was enacted by Congress to give the EPA the ability to track the 75,000 industrial chemicals currently produced or imported into the United States. The EPA repeatedly screens these chemicals and can require reporting or testing of those that may pose an environmental or human-health hazard. The EPA can ban the manufacture and import of those chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk. Also, the EPA has mechanisms in place to track the thousands of new chemicals that industry develops each year with either unknown or dangerous characteristics. The EPA then can control these chemicals as necessary to protect human health and the environment.
• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). Congress passed the Occupational and Safety Health Act to ensure worker and workplace safety. Their goal was to make sure employers provide their workers a place of employment free from recognized hazards to safety and health, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions.
• Clean Air Act (CAA). CAA is the comprehensive federal law that regulates air emissions from area, stationary, and mobile sources. This law authorizes EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and the environment. Subsequent amendments were intended to meet unaddressed or insufficiently addressed problems such as acid rain, ground-level ozone, stratospheric ozone depletion and air toxics.
• Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). SDWA was established to protect the quality of drinking water in the U.S. This law focuses on all waters actually or potentially designed for drinking use, whether from above ground or underground sources. The Act authorized the EPA to establish safe standards of purity and required all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with primary (health-related) standards.
• Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and animals and the habitats in which they are found. Species include birds, insects, fish, reptiles, mammals, crustaceans, flowers, grasses and trees. The law prohibits any action, administrative or real, that results in a "taking" of a listed species, or that adversely affects habitat. Likewise, import, export, interstate and foreign commerce of listed species are all prohibited.

  The EPA's decision to register a pesticide is based in part on the risk of adverse effects on endangered species as well as environmental fate (how a pesticide will affect habitat). Under the FIFRA, the EPA can issue emergency suspensions of certain pesticides to cancel or restrict their use if an endangered species will be adversely affected.

• Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The FFDCA is a set of laws passed by Congress in 1938 giving authority to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the safety of food, drugs and cosmetics. Cotton is primarily used for fiber production intended for textile manufacturing. However, cotton linters, cottonseed oil and cottonseed meal are by-products that are used in human and animal foodstuffs. Cotton linters are used as a source of cellulose in food for human consumption. Cottonseed oil is commonly used as a vegetable oil in human food. Cottonseed meal is used primarily in animal feed as a source of protein.

Biotechnology

Although scientific analyses have indicated that no new or different risks are present, new and more rigorous regulatory processes are used to assess the food, feed and environmental safety of crops developed via biotechnology. Regulators, scientists and the industry choose to err on the side of precaution. There are nine steps in the United States regulatory process:

1. Biosafety Committee approval according to the National Institute of Health Biosafety Guidelines
2. USDA greenhouse approval
3. USDA field trial authorization
4. USDA authorization transport for field trials
5. USDA permission to commercialize
6. EPA experimental use permit approval
7. EPA determination of food tolerance or tolerance exemption
8. EPA product registration
9. FDA review process

The three regulatory agencies and their function are:

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assesses the safety of all biotech plant products intended for consumption by humans and animals. Genetically modified varieties are regarded as containing food additives.
• The Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), oversees field testing of biotech seeds and plants to make sure their release causes no harm to agriculture and the environment.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) evaluates biotech plants' environmental safety — such as their pesticide properties, possible effect on wildlife and how these plants break down in the environment. The agency also must approve any herbicide use with herbicide-tolerant crops.

Conservation Programs

Farmers and ranchers in the United States are encouraged to conserve and protect the land and the diversity of biological resources. In the 1996 Farm Bill the U.S. Congress made the following provisions:

• National Resource Conservation Service - Conservation Reserve Program (NRCS-CRP). The Conservation Reserve Program (NRCS-CRP) provides technical and financial assistance to eligible farmers and ranchers to address soil, water and related natural resource concerns on their lands in an environmentally beneficial and cost-effective manner. It reduces soil erosion, protects the Nation's ability to produce food and fiber, reduces sedimentation in streams and lakes, improves water quality, establishes wildlife habitat and enhances forest and wetland resources. It encourages farmers to convert highly erodible cropland or other environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover, such as tame or native grasses, wildlife plantings, trees, filter strips or riparian buffers.
• National Resource Conservation Service - Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (NRCS-WHIP). The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) is a voluntary program for people who want to develop and improve wildlife habitat primarily on private land. It provides both technical assistance and up to 75 percent cost-share assistance to establish and improve fish and wildlife habitat.
• National Resource Conservation – Wetland Reserve Program (NRCS- WRC). The Wetlands Reserve Program is a voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore and enhance wetlands on their property. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides technical and financial support to help landowners with their wetland restoration efforts. The goal is to achieve the greatest wetland functions and values, along with optimum wildlife habitat, on every acre enrolled in the program. This program offers landowners an opportunity to establish long-term conservation and wildlife practices and protection.
• National Resource Conservation – Environmental Quality Incentives Program (NRCS-EQUIP). NRCS-EQUIP provides a voluntary conservation program for farmers and ranchers that promotes agricultural production and environmental quality as compatible national goals. EQIP offers financial and technical help to assist eligible participants install or implement structural and management practices on eligible agricultural land.

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