Dow AgroScience - tips to trick the public

Subject:   "RISK COMMUNICATION"------
Date:          Thu, 17 Aug 2000 07:32:07 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation

Dear Mr. Helliker. A friend just sent me the following url on "Risk Communication": http://www.lawnandlandscape.com/llpub/9905/fl5995.htm . I thought you might find it interesting that the POISON "industry already considers unregistered soap and water a pesticide.

Gathering the right information can keep lawn care technicians from getting tongue-tied when customers ask questions about pesticide use. By Nicole Wisniewski

A pesticide is any material used to control a pest, according to Philip Catron, president, Natura-Lawn of America, Frederick, Md.

While defining the term ‘pesticide’ and surprising the lawn care customer by naming everyday items as potential hazards doesn’t offer proof to the safety or lack of risks associated with pesticides, implications can be made for either argument, Catron said.

“There is a big difference between ignorance and a lack of knowledge,” Catron stressed. “Perception is what you’re dealing with here and that’s what needs to be addressed. Consumers are able to comprehend information about pesticide use, but they do need to be properly educated first.”

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. Lawn care and landscape contractors and pesticide manufacturers have a variety of views on how pesticide-related information should be communicated to lawn care customers.

The amount of information about pesticide use that should be relayed to customers varies based on Environmental Protection Agency standards and each state’s regulations, according to John Buechner, director of technical services, Lawn Doctor, Marlboro, N.J.

“Certain states, in their pesticide regulations, require disclosure of all of the products that may be used in a lawn or landscape program prior to the first application of the season, common and trade names of the materials, percent of active ingredient as well as the EPA establishment number,” Buechner said. “Some states also require a technician to disclose all of the safety precautions the homeowner should take following an application.

“But,” Buechner continued, “it is generally a good rule to review safety information with your customers regardless of state law.”

When state and EPA regulations are not dictating what should be communicated, landscape technicians and pesticide manufacturers are torn between how much information about safety should actually be conveyed to a customer. Too little isn’t good, especially when it comes to keeping pets and children off of the lawn for 24 hours after a product is applied or until it dries. And too much information may scare customers into canceling their lawn care service.

“You don’t want to miscommunicate or downplay the need for pesticides, yet you don’t want to cause more discomfort than is necessary in your customers,” said Steve Jedrzejek, director of technical services, LESCO, Rocky River, Ohio.

General pesticide and pesticide safety information is hard to relay to customers, especially when their fears are fueled by what they hear in the media, by activist groups or by what they don’t know, Jedrzjek added.

From customer to customer, pesticide-related concerns vary, which is why risk communication has to be dealt with on an individual basis, according to Tim Maniscalo, government public affairs, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, Ind.

“You have to give customers as much as they want, which is way less than what technicians and the government think they want,” Catron explained. “You have to give them information in segments and then build upon their level of interest. Most people only want the basics. Don’t give them the whole candy store the first time they come in.”

Some contractors don’t feel that pesticides are even a concern to their customers.

“We service 9,000 to 10,000 customers,” stated Paul Wagner, president, Masters Green, Sterling Heights, Mich. “In my experience, a customer’s No. 1 concern is results – not safety. They want the lawn to look good.”

Customers also have a tendency to not want to know pesticide risk information, added Richard Linsday, founding president, Evergreen Lawn & Landscape, Fairfax, Va.

“Most of my customers had lawn care in the past or want it now,” Linsday said. “They trust us. They would rather know the when, why and how of applying the material vs. what’s in it and what risk can be associated with it.”

Well Mr. Helliker, Maybe some of the POISON "industry's" customers may not be concerned with the numerous health and/or environmental risks in using your "registered" POISONS to "solve" their lawn problems - but, at least some of their CONTAMINATED neighbors are! I personally do not believe that you can legally describe safe materials as "pesticides or POISONS" - for they are by their very nature safe alternatives to your "registered" POISONS! Your "registered" pesticides are by their very descriptions and nature economic POISONS and that is why you can not call even their labeled use "safe"! I remember when the National Pest Control Association sent all its members a legal opinion that we had a "DUTY TO WARN." I would like to know if you think this kind of "risk communication" is false and misleading?

(Editor's note: Do the poison producers really think we are that stupid? Or maybe they are betting that we've all been so brain damaged by the pesticide poisons we've already inhaled, drank or eaten that we are no longer able to see past their "smoke and mirrors".)

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