North Carolina Dept, of Agriculture & Consumer Services 2 West Edenton St. • Raleigh, N.C. 27611
W. Britt Cobb, Jr., Interim Commissioner Phone:
919/733-3556
Fax:
919/733-9796
EPA Cites Five Colorado Growers for
Failing to Comply with WPS
By Kay Harris, Worker Protection Specialist
Colorado growers put on notice
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took action
against five Colorado growers for violations of the Worker Protection
Standard (WPS), a regulation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). In one case alone, EPA proposed
a civil penalty of $231,990 for 229 violations of the WPS and
FIFRA. This is the largest proposed federal WPS misuse penalty
in EPA history. Four other Colorado growers were issued EPA
complaints for failure to post emergency information and pesticide
specific application information in a central location. Civil penalties
proposed by EPA range from $2,200 to $23,320.
John Suarez, Asst. Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance for EPA, stated that “environmental justice is one of
the highest priorities for EPA’s enforcement program, and that
the federal government has little tolerance for growers who place
their workers in harm’s way because they fail to comply with
the law.”
In North Carolina, WPS regulations are enforced by the NCDA&CS,
Pesticide Section under the N.C. Pesticide Law of 1971. The
regulations are designed to reduce poisoning and injuries among
agricultural workers and pesticide handlers by requiring the
agriculture employer to provide pesticide safety training decontamination
supplies, application information and emergency assistance.
For additional information about the WPS, contact the Pesticide
Section or your local Cooperative Extension Service.
NCSU Conducts Di-Syston
Exposure Study
By Jerry Moody (Ag Agent, Aue/y County CES) and
Dr. Ross Leidy (Professor Emeritus, N.C. State)
This past spring you might have thought you saw some fellows running around in red
union suits in a tree patch. Well, if you did, you were not dreaming! These people were
completing a worker exposure study for Di-Syston 15-G (disulfoton), a granular pesticide
that is vital to North Carolina’s Christmas tree industry. This product is used to control
the balsam twig aphid and the spruce spider mite, two pests of Fraser Fir Christmas
trees. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently reviewing its re¬
registration under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996. EPA is concerned
about applicators being negatively impacted by exposure to Di-Syston. As a result, in
2001 Avery County requested and received a $14,000 grant from the NCDA&CS Pesticide
Environmental Trust Fund to develop a closed-system applicator. If human exposure to
Di-Syston is not documented to be acceptable now that a closed-system applicator has
been developed, this product may be in danger of cancellation.
The data from the worker exposure study is now being analyzed at a lab in Colorado.
Final results are expected in January of 2004. Bayer Corporation awarded the Avery
County Cooperative Extension Center (CES) a grant for up to $65,000 to pay for the
analyses. This is the last step in the re-registration process for Di-Syston. Once the data
are analyzed, they will be delivered to the EPA in Washington, D.C. Below is a description
of the some of the work that was completed by Dr. Ross Leidy, Professor Emeritus of
Toxicology at N.C. State University (NCSU).
Pesticide Section’s
Web Site
• Multiple Chemical
Sensitivity
• Exotic Newcastle Disease
• Pesticide Fees Increase
• Ask the Inspector
• More Changes for Private
Pesticide Applicators
• NCPB Actions
• Applying Pesticides
Through Irrigation
Systems
• Methyl Bromide Phaseout
• Crop Protection Mini-Bulk
and Plastic Drum
Recycling Project
• Pesticide Section Gets New
Address
(See Pesticide Exposure Study, continued, Page 2)
