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In This Issue
Community Mosquito Management Conference Community officials and administrators are invited to a Community Mosquito Management Conference on May 7, 2004, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. on Ohio State University campus at the Agriculture Administration Building Auditorium. The conference is for people who will be overseeing and managing mosquito control for townships, counties, parks and agencies. The cost is $10/person and registration is available on the Pesticide Education Program website at http://pested.osu.edu. Topics to be covered include the challenges of mosquito control on a local level, industry representatives focusing on equipment and materials for control, an update from the Ohio Department of Health and an overview of the State of Ohio surveillance program. Please encourage local departments of health, county commissioners, township trustees, park and campground managers, fairground managers and anyone else involved with managing community and public outdoor areas to attend. The Ohio Commercial Pesticide Recertification Conferences, coordinated by the Pesticide Education Program and Ohio State University Extension, have been set for the upcoming winter. These are the General Conferences for applicators licensed in the turf, ornamental, industrial vegetation, pest control and other categories. The dates are:
The Field Crops Conferences for applicators mainly licensed in agronomic pest control and agricultural weed control will be held in Lima and Columbus. The dates will be set soon for these conferences. Thank you to everyone who helps out with the commercial recertification schools during the winter months and we look forward to this year's meetings. Hearing Set for Revised Pesticide Regulations This past winter, Ohio Department of Agriculture has been writing the rules to accompany the change in Ohio pesticide statutes passed last year in SB 217. This includes setting pesticide registration and licensing fees. A public hearing is scheduled for April 21, 2004 to hear comments on the proposed revisions. Barring any unforeseen issues, ODA anticipates that these rules will become effective on July 1, 2004, consistent with the effective date of the statutory revisions set out in SB 217. If you have any questions, contact Matt Beal, ODA, at (614) 278-6987. Eastern States Introduce New Regulations Maine - Homeowners wanting to use aquatic pesticides in Maine must now have a license. The Maine State Board of Pesticide Control has upheld a new rule that bans the purchase and use of aquatic pesticides without a license. The rule applies only to products registered in Maine that have an aquatic use printed on their label. Connecticut - A bill has been introduced into the state legislature to ban the sale of lawn care pesticides at facilities where food is sold. The bill would also require the state to develop regulations on the storage of pesticides prior to sale and distribution. The bill's introduction was prompted by an environmental group's study that found some local retailers placing chemicals near checkout counters and food displays. (Sources: Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, Nos. 15 & 17) Drift Incident Basis of Lawsuit Two farms, a custom agriculture applicator and a pesticide manufacturer have been named in a lawsuit filed by residents of Kern County, California. The lawsuit centers around fumigation of an onion field last October. The field borders a school, apartment complex and mobile home park. Drift from a pesticide application in the field is blamed for causing residents to seek emergency medical attention and some were evacuated from their homes by local authorities. A grand jury recently found that the Kern County agencies that responded to the drift incident; the fire department, agriculture department and environmental health department, were appropriate in their handling of the situation. The lawsuit by the residents claims that Western Farm Services, Inc., the custom applicator who fumigated the field, did not follow the label for the pesticide used, which contains chloropicrin. The lawsuit puts blame on the two farm operators for negligence in knowing that the pesticide would be used on a field that borders residents and a school, and for choosing an applicator who already has been implicated in two other drift incidents in the past two years. (Source: Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 17 & 20) Mosquito Vector Control Workshops Do you know any pesticide applicators who will be doing mosquito spraying this year? Encourage them to attend the Vector Control Workshops, coordinated by Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Department of Health. These workshops will be held around the state in June and the dates and locations are listed below. Applicators will be able to bring in their mosquito ULV spraying equipment for droplet testing. The sprayers must be in working condition and calibrated prior to the workshop. Droplets can be taken only using pesticide as the spray, so have some pesticide in the tank. At selected locations, an educational program and license exam testing will be available. The program includes a morning of new applicator training for the mosquito category on a pesticide applicator license. Applicators will be able to take their licensing exam the same morning. The afternoon educational session will feature an update on West Nile Virus and mosquito control. Pesticide recertification credits for the mosquito category will be available in the afternoon session. The dates and locations of the workshops are:
The cost is $10/person for the educational session or $10/machine for ULV droplet testing. More information will available on the Pesticide Education Program website at http://pested.osu.edu or by calling (614) 292-4070. Legislation Sought for Clean Water Act Exemptions In an effort to ward off citizen lawsuits against farmers, mosquito control and other applicators, an industry group is seeking legislation to exempt pesticide spraying conducted in accordance with federal laws from the Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting process. This was prompted by a recent case where a federal court ruled that citizens can sue pesticide applicators for violating the CWA regardless of whether an application complies with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Pesticide applicators affected include mosquito control, herbicide usage in irrigation waters, forest applications for pests such as gypsy moth and others. (Source: Inside Washington Publishers via U.S. EPA) A family in San Diego decided to rid their rental house of cockroaches and rats. The family left the 470-square-foot house in the morning after setting off 19 bug-bomb foggers. Minutes later, the entire house was nearly destroyed in an explosion that tore holes in walls and ceilings and blew doors off their hinges. The moral of the story is to always read and follow label directions. (Source: SignOnSanDiego.com via the PSEP Quarterly, produced by CSREES, USDA) Insecticides
Herbicides
Fungicides
(Source for Pesticide Crop Watch: Agricultural Chemical News, Volumes 293 & 294, Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 20)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Keith L. Smith, Director, Ohio State University Extension. . |
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