Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizes EPA to allow for unregistered uses of pesticides to address emergency conditions. Under such an exemption, EPA allows limited use of the pesticide in defined geographic areas for a finite period of time -- up to one year for public health emergencies -- to address "urgent, non-routine" situations. Emergency exemptions may be requested by State or Federal agencies when an emergency condition jeopardizes public health, the environment, or production of agricultural goods, and inadequate tools exist to address the situation. To grant the exemption, EPA evaluates the safety, durability, and efficacy of the product to ensure it remains effective under the proposed conditions of use, even after repeated contact and treatment with cleaning and disinfection products.
In obtaining the exemption, Allied Bioscience also agreed to pursue a traditional registration (under FIFRA Section 3) by submitting additional data to the agency over coming months. If the full registration process is completed, the product would become available for purchase by members of the public.
EPA also announced that it plans to issue soon information to assist companies interested in obtaining a registration for anti-viral surface coatings.
More information on the Section 18 emergency exemption granted to Texas is available here.