Law

Proposed pesticide rule changes 

The Pesticide Control Board recently approved amendments to
current pesticide regulations found at NDAC Article 60-03. The
proposed changes will now go through the public comment process.
These rules can be found in the back part of the Pesticide Act
booklet, which is included in certification/recertification
packets. 

The changes to the rules are as follows:

1.  Certification of commercial applicators and dealers and
private applicators. 

The new rules will require an individual to complete an approved
examination at least every ninth year in order to become
recertified. This means that every third time an individual
becomes recertified, he/she would need to write an examination to
become recertified. The examination will be the same as the
examination used for initial certification purposes. This will
apply to private applicators as well as commercial applicators. 

2.  Certification of private applicators.

The private applicator certification time period will be reduced
from five years to three years. This will make the certification
time periods for commercial and private applicators identical. 

3.  Posting requirements.

The posting requirements are proposed to be modified to state
that all pesticides that require posting on the label under the
EPA Worker Protection Standard be posted according to that
standard. In addition, the pesticides from the following list
must be posted by the farm operator or the farm operator's
cooperating designee, which may include commercial applicators. 
     (1)  Methyl parathion
     (2)  Ethyl Parathion
     (3)  Dyfonate post emergence foliar applications.
     (4)  Furadan post emergence foliar application to corn,
          sorghum, and sunflowers.
     (5)  Di-syston post emergence foliar applications to corn
          and sorghum. 

The only change to this list is the addition of sunflowers under
the Furadan applications. Existing language states that any
pesticide applicator applying posting required pesticides for a
farm operator is required to inform the farm operator within 24
hours in advance of the pesticide application. The proposed
language states that any pesticide applicator applying pesticides
from this list for a farm operator is required to inform the farm
operator within 24 hours in advance of the pesticide application. 
The proposed changes to the posting requirements are essentially
designed to clarify the posting requirements in state law and
those in federal law under the Worker Protection Standard.
The Pesticide Control Board held a public hearing on September
15, 1995. Persons wishing to view the proposed regulations may do
so at the North Dakota Department of Agriculture,(701) 328-2231,
or your local county Extension agent's office. Anyone interested
in commenting about the proposed regulations may mail their
testimony to Barry Coleman, Director, Pesticide Division, NDDA,
600 E. Blvd., 6th Floor, State Capitol, Bismarck, ND  58505-0020. 
Comments must be received by the Department of Agriculture on or
before October 18, 1995.

(Submitted by Barry Coleman, Director Pesticide Division,
ND Department of Agriculture)