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Oregon
pesticide use reporting (PUR) data
In 1999, the
Oregon legislature passed a law requiring full pesticide use reporting,
formalizing an existing system of recordkeeping for forestry applications
and adding other sectors as well. Annual pesticide use reports are
required of anyone who uses or applies a pesticide in the course
of business, for a government entity, or in a location intended
for public use or access. The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA)
is responsible for its implementation. The enabling legislation
laid out the most comprehensive pesticide use reporting system yet
created, requiring use tracking by agriculture, forestry, industrial,
urban commercial, and urban households. A pilot system was tested
in 2001, and statewide data collection is slated to begin in 2002.
 Where
can the original data be obtained?
What
types of pesticide applications are reported in Oregon?
What
types of pesticide applications are NOT reported in Oregon?
What
are the limitations of the Oregon PUR system?
How
can pesticide use information be used?
Where
can the original data be obtained?
No
data are publicly available yet, since full data collection just
started in early 2002. Information on the process by which the Oregon
PUR law was developed and implemented are available from the Oregon
Department of Agriculture (1) and from Pesticide Action Network
Germany (2).
References:
- J. Rothlein
and J. Jenkins, Oregon Pesticide Use Reporting System: Analytical
Review, Oregon
Department of Agriculture, Viewed on July 16, 2007.
- 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.
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What
types of pesticide applications are reported in Oregon?
Information
included in the Oregon PUR reports will include the identity and
amount of pesticide used, applicator’s name and ID number,
crop or site, location of application by township-range-section,
zip code or address, size of treated area (for agricultural and
forestry applications), and target pest. Oregon will require electronic
reporting, accepting no paper reports, which has the potential to
nearly eliminate errors in the dataset. Reporting will be done through
a web interface or electronic file transfer system.
Oregon is the
first state to formalize tracking of household pesticide use, an
important step, since pesticide use in this sector is estimated
to represent 23% of total pesticide use (active ingredients) in
the U.S. Because no certification or training is required for consumer
pesticide use, this sector has high potential for misuse and overuse
of pesticides, which can result in substantially more environmental
damage than the more carefully regulated agricultural or commercial
applications. Accurate tracking of consumer use has long been thought
to be an unimplementable pipe dream by those close to pesticide
use reporting; however, the ODA found that the infrastructure is
almost fully in place for consumer sales reporting using the bar
codes already on pesticide containers and scanning technology used
by most retail outlets. They estimated that retail outlets would
have to spend only between 1 and 4 hours per month to extract pesticide
sales data from inventory data acquired by retail scanning systems.
While pesticide sales information does not give a precise picture
of consumer pesticide use, it certainly contributes to knowledge
about types of pesticides used and could give a reasonable estimate
of pesticide use down to the county level. Although there are no
technical barriers to implementing this system of consumer pesticide
sales reporting, in the end the ODA decided to survey representative
households on an annual basis to obtain this information instead.
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What
types of pesticide applications are NOT reported in Oregon?
Most types
of pesticide use will be captured by the Oregon PUR system, with
the caveat that the residential use of pesticides will be based
on survey data instead of actual use information.
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What
are the limitations of the Oregon PUR system?
The Oregon
pesticide use reporting system suffers from one primary limitation,
which is that public right-to-know is not well-served. The extensive
confidentiality provisions built in to the regulations prevent release
of any information that would identify individual pesticide users
(excluding applications to public property by public entities) and
the locations where pesticides are applied except to state or federal
agencies or to university researchers who have agreed to maintain
confidentiality. Thus, any information released to the public will
be at a level of detail that only allows general analysis of use
trends, and GIS mapping of pesticide use will not be possible. Additionally,
since use reports are only required to be filed annually, any time-sensitive
information will be unavailable, even to agencies responsible for
enforcement of pesticide regulations.
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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.
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Last updated
July 16, 2007
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