State moves to limit potent herbicide
Subject: Cancer Clusters In California
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 11:23:53 -0500
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 Regulationcc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Friday, January 25, 2002, 12:00 a.m. Pacific
State moves to limit potent herbicide
By Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times staff reporter
State regulators took a first step yesterday toward restricting use of a potent herbicide that is tainting compost and killing plants.
Draft rules issued for discussion — and which could still change — would ban the use of herbicides containing the ingredient clopyralid on residential and commercial lawns.
Clopyralid products still could be used on golf courses if the clippings, leaves or other vegetation were not removed from the site and placed in municipal or commercial compost facilities.
Applicators treating golf courses with pesticides with the ingredient clopyralid also would be required to notify groundskeeping personnel in writing that no grass clippings, leaves or other vegetation could be removed and placed in municipal or commercial compost facilities.
Regulators also proposed restricting distribution of clopyralid products labeled for use on lawns or turf to licensed pesticide dealers only, for use only by certified applicators.
Licensed pesticide dealers could sell clopyralid products to noncertified applicators for other uses, as long as the purchaser signed an invoice or sales slip indicating the chemical would not be applied to lawns or turf other than golf courses.
The draft rules were issued by the state Department of Agriculture, which hopes to adopt final, emergency rules by April 1, the approximate start of the growing season.
Compost manufacturers, solid-waste managers and some farmers and gardeners have asked the department to restrict or ban use of the chemical to keep it out of compost.
But lawn-care companies, farmers, foresters and other users of the herbicide have argued against restrictions, claiming it would force them to use even more, less effective chemicals.
The draft rules are to be vetted by a technical advisory committee of pesticide users, regulators, compost manufacturers and other interest groups in Olympia on Thursday. The department, however, makes the final decision on the wording of the rule.
Clopyralid is in regulators' cross hairs because the herbicide does not break down in the normal composting process. Chemical residues have killed plants in isolated incidents reported across the globe, but most especially in Washington state.
State inspectors found traces of the herbicide in compost ingredients or finished compost at all nine compost-manufacturing facilities that volunteered for testing last October.
No one knows for sure how long the chemical lasts in compost once it finds its way into the material, through clopyralid contaminated grass clippings, animal bedding and manure and other sources.
"At this point we don't know what the half life in compost is," said Garry Hamlin, spokesman for Dow AgroSciences, the manufacturer of clopyralid.
The chemical breaks down in soil in 24 to 45 days on average, Hamlin said. But piles at a compost facility outside Spokane still show signs of contamination severe enough to damage sensitive plants at least 14 months after the residue was first detected.
Lynda V. Mapes can be reached at 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company
Article Location: http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=compost25m&date=20020125&query=Mapes
If you would like to be included in our mailing list for continuing information on pesticides, Email Us.
|
Nontoxic Products Recommended by Steve Tvedten Now Available |
| Safe 2 Use Products and Services |