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In This Issue
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:
Registration is $10/person for the educational session or $10/machine for ULV droplet testing. On-line registration and more information is available on the Pesticide Education Program website at http://pested.osu.edu or by calling (614) 292-4070. EPA Pulls More Funding from Pesticide Safety Education Programs Last year, EPA cut funding to state, tribal and territorial pesticide safety and education programs by over 60 percent. EPA is proposing to continue these cuts into the next fiscal year, even after promising last year to restore the funding. This means that only $1.2 million will be split among 55 programs. The American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE) has met several times with EPA to express concerns that this lower funding level is inadequate to continue consistent pesticide education. Glyphosate exposure was the subject of a study of 48 South Carolina and Minnesota farmers. The study was done by Monsanto Co, Exponent Corp. and University of Minnesota and Emory University. Urine samples were taken from the farmers the day before the herbicide application, again on the day of the application and three days after the application. The urine samples were also taken from the farmer's spouses and children on the same days. The farmers applied glyphosate to a minimum of 10 acres and some treated more than 100 acres. In the study, 60 percent of the farmers who applied glyphosate did show detectable levels of the herbicide in their urine, but none exceeded the EPA reference dose for glyphosate of two mg/kg/day. Forty percent of the farmers did not have detectable levels of the herbicide in their urine. The detection level was one ppb. Four percent of the spouses had detectable levels of glyphosate on the day of application, with a maximum value noted at three ppb. With the children, 12 percent had detectable levels in their urine on the day of application. All but one of the children who had detectable levels had helped with the application of the herbicide or had been present during its mixing, loading or application. Another interesting finding was that farmers who did not use chemical-resistant rubber gloves during mixing and loading had a geometric mean concentration of 10 ppb versus two ppb for gloved workers. The study is called "Glyphosate Biomonitoring for Farmers and Their Families: Results from the Farm Family Exposure Study" was published in the March issue of "Environmental Health Perspectives." The study is available at: http://ehis.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/6667/6667.html (Source: Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 23) In late April, about 7,000 pounds of herbicides were stolen from a local chemical dealer in Cass County, Iowa. The theft took place about 6:30 on a Friday night. A man who drove a pickup truck with Minnesota plates wrote a check for an order of seven types of herbicides. On Monday, the chemical company tried to call the bank who issued the check and realized the bank did not exist. The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are involved in the investigation. The Agribusiness Association of Iowa is alerting their members to have customers identify themselves prior to releasing fertilizer or chemicals to unknown persons. (Source: Agribusiness Association of Iowa) Study of Children's Response to Environmental Factors The journal "Pediatrics" recently released a supplement entitled: "The Vulnerability, Sensitivity, and Resiliency of the Developing Embryo, Infant, Child and Adolescent to the Effects of Environmental Chemicals, Drugs and Physical Agents as compared to the Adult." The study looks at various areas of environmental exposures including chemicals and how these affect children in their various stages of growth. The link for the study is: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/vol113/issue4/index.shtml#SUPPLS1 (Source: Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF), Cornell University) Model Developed to Predict Environmental Impact A predictive model that could help determine the impact of pesticides on the immune system of animals has been developed by a professor of zoology at the university of Wisconsin-Madison. The model uses GIS information to integrate information on animal behavior and physiology with climate conditions. The model has been used to link the death of birds off the coast of Florida with applications of Fenthion, an organophosphate pesticide. The university has applied for a patent on the model. The research was funded by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. (Source: Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 16) The Russian government is distributing more than 500 tons of pesticides free to offset large cereal crop losses. Last year, farmers lost more than 70 million tons of cereal crops last year to pests. The free pesticides target locust and meadow moth, which are held responsible for most of the damage. (Source: Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 16) Insecticides
Herbicides
Fungicides
MISC.
(Source for Pesticide Crop Watch: Agricultural Chemical News, Vol. 295, Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 24.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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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