the importance of following label directions
TRANSCRIPT
The Importance of Following Label Directions
Pesticide Education Program
But first a few updates from 2011
• Website: New Look, Same Great Information
• EPA Rodenticide Decision
• Imprelis- The Short Version
But first a few updates from 2011
• New look same great information
– http://extension.psu.edu/pesticide-education
– pested.psu.edu still “gets you there”
– Special thanks to Sharon Gripp, Tim Simpkins
– Still a work in progress
But first a few updates from 2011
• Pesticide Recordkeeping
– “There is an app for that!”
– Hopefully to launch in 2012
But first a few updates from 2011
• New look same great information
• Web-based training
– Special thanks to Tom Butlzer, Nancy Bosold
– Still a work in progress
But first a few updates from 2011
• EPA Rodenticide Decision
http://blog.pested.psu.edu/201
1/11/07/epa-to-remove-
rodent-control-products/
But first a few updates from 2011
• EPA Rodenticide Decision
The most toxic and
persistent active
ingredients (the chemical
that controls the pest),
EPA Rodenticide Decision
Products sold as loose
bait and pellets,
But first a few updates from 2011
• EPA Rodenticide Decision
Any remaining products without
protective bait stations, which
keep children, pests, and other
animals from accessing the
enclosed rodenticide bait.
But first a few updates from 2011
• Imprelis- The short version
http://www.imprelis-facts.com/
• Herbicide distributed by DuPont
• Broad leaf weed control in turf
• 2011 First distribution for use in turf
• Only distributed through sale to professional lawn care companies
But first a few updates from 2011
• Imprelis- The short version
http://www.imprelis-facts.com/
• Only the fourth product during my 20+ year career that EPA issued a stop sale AND recall of the product
The Importance of Following Label Directions
Pesticide Education Program
A Pennsylvania Example
• Misuse of “bug bombs”
• Lebanon, Pennsylvania
• Use by a private individual
• Technically not required to be certified
• Frightening but not fatal
The two best reasons I can think of ….
A tragic “tale” of what can happen
• Misuse of Fumitoxin In Utah 2010
• The Fumitoxin tablets are the size of an aspirin. When they come into contact with moisture in the soil, Smith said, the tablets fizz and dissolve -- similar to when an Alka-Seltzer tablet is dropped into water -- creating phosphine gas, which kills the rodents.
• Rebecca Toone, 4, and her 15-month-old sister, Rachel, died in February after apparently inhaling fumes from aluminum phosphide, an active ingredient in many fumigants. An exterminator dropped Fumitoxin aluminum phosphide pellets into borrow holes to kill voles in the family's lawn, but may have neglected to read and follow product label instructions about leaving a buffer zone between the poison and the house.
• Instead of staying at least 15 feet away from the house, he reportedly applied the pellets within seven feet from the front door and three feet from the garage. Phosphine gas seeped into the house and killed the children.
• According to an invoice the exterminator gave the family, Smith said, about 1.5 pounds of the Fumitoxin aluminum phosphide pellets were used. His crews excavated the lawn to find the remaining pellets.
• But the Utah deaths are not isolated incidents of pesticides killing children in the West. The same active ingredient killed a South Dakota girl in 2000, and a 2-year-old Texas girl in 2007.
• A Montana State University conducted in 2009, the survey by the MSU Pesticide Education program shows that one in 10 certified applicators don't read the entire product label before applying pesticides, reports Tharp. One in three said they have been at least mildly poisoned during their careers.
New label changes
• Use in residential areas for burrowing
pests (moles and gophers) is removed from the labels.
• The buffer zone from building that may
be occupied by humans or domestic animals is increased to 100 feet.
New label changes
• Use is strictly prohibited around all residential areas, including single and multi-family residential properties, nursing homes, schools (except athletic fields, where use may continue), day care facilities, and hospitals.
New label changes
• Products must only be used outdoors for control of burrowing pests, and are for use only on agricultural areas, orchards, non-crop areas (such as pasture and rangeland), golf courses, athletic fields, parks and recreational areas, cemeteries, airports, rights-of-way, earthen dams, and other nonresidential, institutional or industrial areas.
New label changes
• When this product is used in athletic fields or parks, the applicator must post a sign at entrances to the treated site containing the signal word DANGER/PELIGRO, skull and crossbones, the words: DO NOT ENTRER/NO ENTRE, FIELD NOT FOR USE, the name and EPA registration number of the fumigant, and a 24-hour emergency response number. Signs may be removed 2 days after the final treatment. EPA says this is a 48 hour reentry interval.
New label changes
• Fumigant Management Plans must be written before all applications of phosphine products, including all burrowing pest fumigations.
• www.pested.psu.edu