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In This Issue
California Pesticide Education Office to Close The Pesticide Safety and Education Program with University of California Cooperative Extension will be closing their doors on September 30. The director of the program is retiring and the remaining staff has been given layoff notices. The UC Cooperative Extension IPM program will hire a writer to develop training manuals with the remaining pesticide training federal funds. This is the first pesticide education office to close, and it's unknown if others will follow. Extension programs across the nation are facing cuts at the same time that EPA cut funding for pesticide training programs by over 60 percent. Currently, EPA is planning to split $1.2 million among 55 programs that include every state and U.S. territory. (Source: USDA Pesticide Safety and Education Program) Mosquito Vector Control Wrap-Up In cooperation with the Ohio Department of Health, Vector-borne Disease section, the Pesticide Education Program helped coordinate Mosquito Vector Control Workshops around the state of Ohio in June. The mosquito fogging machines were calibrated and tested for droplet size. Clarke Mosquito Control provided the technical support. Over 170 mosquito foggers were calibrated and tested. The educational programs, which focused on mosquito control and mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile Virus, were attended by over 150 applicators. West Nile Virus is still in Ohio. So far in 2004, there have been birds or mosquitoes that tested positive for West Nile Virus in nine counties. For more information, visit the Pesticide Education Program website at http://pested.osu.edu EPA is releasing the 2,4-D human health and ecological risk assessments for a 60-day public comment period that will end on August 23, 2004. EPA is anticipating that the final risk management for 2,4-D will be released in 2005. This review is part of the Food Quality and Protection Act (FQPA) which requires a risk assessment of pesticides, including those already on the market. The preliminary risk assessment has identified direct application of 2,4-D to water as a situation where risk is elevated. These will be studied more in the review. 2,4-D is currently not classified as a human carcinogen. There will be additional studies on the endocrine disruption potential of 2,4-D. For more information about the comment period and the review, go to: http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/reregistration/24d/ (Source: EPA Office of Pesticide Programs) Dispute Over 2,4-D Application The city of Pewaukee, Wis., is planning to apply 2,4-D to Pewaukee Lake to control weeds. The lake area slated for spraying takes in about 43.6 acres. The local sanitary district is trying legal means to block the city from obtaining the required state permit for the application. (Source: Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 32) Methyl Parathion Reassessment Issued Methyl parathion is an organophosphate pesticide used as an insecticide. Several uses of methyl parathion were cancelled because of uses that posed an unacceptable dietary risk to children, according to testing with the Food Quality and Protection Act (FQPA). These cancelled uses were mainly fruit and vegetable crops and non-food uses such as mosquito control. EPA has issued the interim re-registration eligibility decision (IRED) for methyl parathion that proposes to keep uses for agriculture crops that include alfalfa, barley, cabbage, corn, grass, oats, soybeans, sugar beets and wheat. The crop tolerances and re-entry intervals will be changed. A comment period is posted until August 2. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/op/methyl_parathion.htm (Source: EPA Office of Pesticide Programs) Fines Levied to Indiana Retailers Indiana has a state pesticide rule for retailers that requires training for staff who give advice to customers about pesticide use and post corresponding signs. This includes any store such as a nursery or hardware store that sells pesticides to customers. Recently, the Office of Indiana State Chemist fined three stores in Indianapolis (Lowe's, Do-It-Best hardware and Menards) for violating the rule. A Home Depot store and two Ace Hardware stores received a warning. (Source: EPA District 5 Pesticide Program Update) California Considers Law to Aid Victims of Drift The California legislature is considering a bill that would aid people exposed to pesticides through drift. This would include farm workers and nearby residents. The goal of the bill is to establish a fund to assist with victims' medical bills and provide training programs for health care workers. The victims fund would be supported by fees from pesticide sales. Medical costs such as emergency medical services, medical evaluations and diagnosis and immediate and ongoing treatment of conditions caused by pesticide drift exposure would be covered by the fund. (Source: Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 32) Insecticides
Misc.
(Sources for Pesticide Crop Watch: Agricultural Chemical News, Vol. 297; Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Vol. 32, No. 33 and No. 32)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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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