The Center for Environmental and Regulatory Information Systems (CERIS) is a center within the
Entomology Department at
Purdue University. It is home to a collection of databases of information on pesticides, plant export/import requirements, and exotic pest tracking. Data is received or derived principally from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and United States state agencies. CERIS currently operates the following projects:
- The National Pesticide Information Retrieval System (NPIRS) is a collection of pesticide-related databases, applications, and websites whose primary purpose is to disseminate timely and accurate information at an affordable cost. The pesticide product data received from EPA and state regulatory agencies is the basis for all applications available. The NPIRS project has developed and maintains twelve websites which are available either publicly or through subscription. For more information, please visit http://ppis.ceris.purdue.edu.
- The National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS) is a database of the USDA Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey, which tracks the movements of exotic and invasive insect and plant pests throughout the United States. While full search access to the NAPIS database is limited to employees of the USDA and their cooperators, extensive information regarding agricultural pests of economic importance can be found at http://pest.ceris.purdue.edu.
- The National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN) is a collection of Land Grant University plant disease and pest diagnostic facilities from across the United States. The National Repository, maintained by CERIS, contains diagnostic information uploaded from 5 regions. This project is a cooperative effort with CSREES (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service) and several land grant universities. More information on the NPDN project can be found here.
- The Export Certification Project (EXCERPT) database contains information on more than 250 countries needed for the preparation of phytosanitary certificates accompanying plants exported from the United States. Full search access to the EXCERPT database is by annual subscription. Contact
for more information.
- In addition to the above projects, CERIS maintains an archive of Federal Register Agriculture Articles from 2000 and on.