WHEREAS, in view of increased awareness to environmental contamination of all kinds, including pesticides, the government has seen fit to pursue a program to combat pollution in whatever form to safeguard public health and safety;

WHEREAS, it is incumbent on the government to direct its attention towards a more efficient and safer formulations and application of pesticides to offset the growing problem of food and environmental contamination;

WHEREAS, the agricultural usage of pesticides is a major factor in the mounting public concern regarding environmental contamination and its possible significance to human life, plant life and animal life;

WHEREAS, agricultural pesticides vary widely in the degree of possible hazard to users and consumers of treated crops and to farm animals, wild life and to the public;

WHEREAS, Act No. 3091 enacted in 1923 is the only existing law and merely covers the mis-branding and adulteration of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides;

WHEREAS, no specific government instrumentality is charged with the responsibility of monitoring the use of agricultural pesticides commercially manufactured, sold and distributed in the country;

WHEREAS, in the absence of an updated law on pesticides, there is an urgent need to set up an administrative machinery that will not only institute measures to improve agricultural production, public health and environmental quality through the wise use of pesticides but also provide adequate safeguards against its harmful effects on the environment;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby create the Pesticides Control and Research Committee under the Office of the President composed of the following:

1.	The Chairman, National Science Development Board	Chairman
2.	The Undersecretary for Agriculture	Vice-Chairman
3.	The Director, Bureau on Plant Industry	Member
4.	The Director, Bureau of Animal Industry	Member
5.	The Dean, U.P. College of Agriculture	Member
6.	The Administrator, Food and Drug Administration	Member

The Pesticides Control and Research Committee shall have the following functions and powers:

a. It shall administer, direct, oversee and regulate the importation, manufacture, sale, distribution and use of pesticides.

b. It shall prescribe rules and regulations or otherwise institute measures regarding the importation, manufacture, sale, distribution and use of pesticides to improve agricultural production, public health and environmental quality. Any violation of such rules, regulations and lawful orders and circulars promulgated by the Committee shall subject the offender not only to proper administrative sanctions, if warranted, but also to prosecution and imposition of the penalties prescribed by law.

c. It shall coordinate its activities with other government agencies also charged with certain aspects of regulating and monitoring the entry, use and development of pesticides.

d. It shall initiate studies toward the more efficient and safer formulation and application of pesticides in order to offset the problems of food and environmental contamination.

e. It shall outline the means by which the use of pesticides may be controlled for the protection of the users and consumers of treated food and other commodities.

The Pesticides Control and Research Committee is hereby authorized to call upon any department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality of the government for such assistance as it may need towards fulfilling its responsibilities. It may also organize such technical groups as may be necessary in the exercise of its functions or enlist the services of other government officials and employees whenever such services are needed by the Committee in the accomplishments of its task.

The Pesticides Control and Research Committee is hereby empowered to create and organize the administrative machinery which will implement its policies and procedures and enforce the rules and regulations promulgated by it governing the importation, manufacture, sale, distribution and use of pesticides.

The Pesticide Control and Research Committee shall submit to the President a program of activities and periodic progress reports.

Done in the City of Manila, this 10th day of August, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-one.


By the President:

(SGD.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary