|
|
|
|
New
York pesticide use reporting (PUR) data
New York enacted
the Pesticide Reporting Law in 1996, with the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), in conjunction with the
Pesticide Management Program at Cornell University’s Cooperative
Extension Service, responsible for its implementation. Most commercial
pesticide applications in the state are reported, a total of 15-16
million records annually, with 29.4 million pounds and 4.5 million
gallons of pesticide products (including inert ingredients) applied
in 1998. Data were first collected for applications made in 1997
and three years of reporting data, 1997-1999, are currently available.
Overall, the data have illuminated previously unsuspected patterns
of use, including an surprising amount of urban and suburban pesticide
use relative to agricultural use. For a more detailed analysis,
see The
Toxic Treadmill.
 Where
can the original data be obtained?
What
types of pesticide applications are reported in New York?
What
types of pesticide applications are NOT reported in New York?
What
are the limitations of the New York PUR system?
How
can pesticide use information be used?
Where
can the original data be obtained?
New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), in
conjunction with the Pesticide Management Program at Cornell University’s
Cooperative Extension Service,
is responsible for collecting and maintaining the NY PUR data set.
Summary data are available from NYSDEC (1) and the full data sets
are available from Cornell (2)
and are presented in a searchable format at the Cornell web site.
An analysis of the first two years of PUR data is also available
from Environmental Advocates and NYPIRG (3).
References:
- New York State Pesticide Sales and Applications Annual Reports,
New
York State Department of Enviornmental Conservation. Viewed on October 31, 2002.
- Pesticide
Sales and Use Reporting, Cornell
University Pesticide Management Education Program. Viewed on October 31, 2002.
- A. Thier,
The
Toxic Treadmill: Pesticide Use and Sales in New York State, 1997-1998,
Environmental Advocates and NYPIRG. Viewed on October 31, 2002.
Top of page
What
types of pesticide applications are reported in New York?
Pesticide use
data are submitted annually for all commercial applications, where
commercial applicators are defined as anyone who applies pesticides
for hire, including: lawn and garden applicators; exterminators;
custodial and groundskeeping staff in schools, office buildings,
and other structures; and municipal employees who apply pesticides
in such places as parks or on roadsides. In addition, certain pesticide
dealers are required to report on their pesticide sales to farmers,
and manufacturers and importers are required to report their aggregate
statewide sales of restricted use pesticides (RUPs). Homeowner use
and sales of general use pesticides (except to farmers) are not
reported.
Commercial
applicators report to NYSDEC the identity and amount of pesticide
product applied, along with the date and location of the application
by address. Specific location information, however, is not released
to the general public. Instead, location is reported to the public
by either zip code or county. Commercial applicators must also retain
records regarding application rate and method, and target pest for
each application. Such information is not reported to NYSDEC but
must be furnished to authorized inspectors upon request. Additional
information required to be collected but not filed with the state
includes the application rate, method of application, and target
pest.
The level of
detail collected regarding agricultural pesticide use through the
"sales to farmers" category is more limited. The information
collected includes product identification and quantity sold, date
of sale, and location of intended application. No information is
collected on crop, acres treated or target pest. Thus, the New York
PUR system provides only an indirect measure of agricultural pesticide
use.
Top of page
What
types of pesticide applications are NOT reported in New York?
Home and garden
use of pesticides by individual homeowners is not reported, nor
are most industrial or institutional uses, unless applications are
performed by a licensed pest control applicator. Nor are stores
or manufacturers required to report sales of general use pesticides
(the only kind that homeowners may legally obtain) that could be
used to estimate homeowner use; however, nationwide sales data indicate
that approximately 30% of total pesticide use in the U.S. is for
home and garden applications.
General use pesticides
sold to farmers through stores or dealers who are not licensed to
sell restricted use pesticides are not reported. The information farmers
keep on site is less than that kept by commercial applicators and
is limited to restricted use produts only. Direct and complete use
reporting by farmers would give agricultural and integrated pest managament
researchers real, site-specific data to work with, and allow more
accurate comparisons with commercial applicator data.
Top of page
What
are the limitations of the New York PUR system?
The New York
State pesticide reporting system suffers from a number of limitations.
- The amounts
and identities of active ingredients used are not reported, only
the amounts and identities of the formulated products. The information
required to obtain the identity and percents of the active ingredients
is not a part of the public release of the data, although tools
to look up these parameters on a pesticide-by-pesticide basis
are available at the Cornell web site (1).
-
At
present, the general public only has access to the names and
quantities of each product aggregated by either zip code or
county, limiting public right-to-know about toxins in their
environment. The location-specific data (by zip code) are available
for use only by state agencies or researchers who must apply
for access through the New York State Department of Health.
- The identity
of "inert" ingredients, which can account for up to
99% of the total weight of applied pesticide, are also not included
in the data reported. Unfortunately, "inert" ingredients
are not necessarily inert. Many are known to have adverse health
effects and may indeed be pesticides in their own right. Eight
inert ingredients are classified as "Of Toxicological Concern"
and another 75 are "Potentially Toxic." Examples of
toxic "inerts" include formaldehyde (a pesticide and
a carcinogen), chloropicrin (a pesticide and a potent neurotoxin),
o-cresol (causes genetic damage), ethoxylated p-nonylphenol (an
endocrine disruptor), o-phenylphenol
(a carcinogen), toluene (a developmental toxicant), and xylene
(a neurotoxin) (2).
-
Other
information that is not collected includes:
Identity
of the target pest:
The name of the pest for which a pesticide is applied is not
currently reported to the State, although applicators are
required to keep records of the pest for non-agricultural
applications. Having this information for agricultural applications
would allow tracking of pest outbreaks and provide a resource
for integrated pest management practitioners.
Applications to organically-grown crops: It would be
helpful to know which crops are grown under certified organic
conditions to track pest management strategies and change
in the organic industry.
Applications
to genetically modified crops:
Knowing the extent and location of genetically modified crops
would provide valuable information to researchers evaluating
pesticide use and pest pressures on these crops, as well as
any ecological and public health impacts that may emerge from
this technology.
- Manual data
entry is error-prone. The system could be vastly improved by creating
an electronic data entry system. An added benefit would be that
the time required to do data entry would be substantially reduced.
Top
of page
How
Can Pesticide Use Information Be Used?
Pesticide use
information is the necessary foundation for all aspects of pesticide
regulation, risk reduction, environmental protection and pest control
research. Accurate and detailed pesticide use information such as
that gathered through a use reporting system benefits a diverse
clientele, from pesticide applicators and pesticide manufacturers
to researchers, regulators, growers, farmworkers and community members.
In particular,
the data can be used to assess and improve pest management strategies,
provide crop acreage counts and market forecasts for farmers, and
track trends in pesticide use. Researchers and regulators use the
data to investigate the effects of pesticide use on air quality,
groundwater and surface water quality, human health, and endangered
species. A number of specific examples of how the existing set of
California PUR data have been used are detailed in reference 1.
Pesticide use
information also serves the community right-to-know by providing
community members with information on what types and amounts of
pesticides are used near their homes so they can take appropriate
action to prevent further exposures. In California, knowledge of
typical pesticide applications by a particular grower has led to
negotiations between farmers and community members in an attempt
to reduce pesticide use near homes, schools, and parks. Some of
these negotiations have resulted in "good neighbor" agreements
where farmers voluntarily agree to reduce the amounts of toxic pesticides
applied near such sensitvie sites or to farm those areas organically
and to notify neighbors when pesticide applications are scheduled
to occur.
References:
- L. Neumeister,
Pesticide Use Reporting: Legal Framework, Data Processing and
Utilisation, Part One: Full Reporting Systems in California and
Oregon, Pesticide Action Network Germany (Hamburg, 2002),
in English. Download.
Viewed on October 31, 2002.
Top of page
Last updated
November 11, 2002
.
|
|
