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Notice: pesticide spraying

Published (2/29/2008)
By Patty Ostberg
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The building blocks of pesticides are the same as with humans: a collision that some say is causing severe health complications in those living near farms and yards being sprayed with the chemicals.

Rep. Ken Tschumper (DFL-La Crescent) sponsors HF2459 that would change pesticide posting requirements to include notice of application 48 hours before and after spraying. At least 29 other states have pesticide “right to know” legislation, he said.

The bill was approved Feb. 26 by the House Housing Policy and Finance and Public Health Finance Division, and it now goes to the House Finance Committee.

The bill would also require:

• the Department of Agriculture to develop and maintain public accessible electronic records of pesticide sprays 48 hours in advance of the initial application;

• marking with red flags around the perimeter of a property to be sprayed;

• raising the annual application fee for each pesticide registered from 0.4 to 0.5 percent of annual gross sales within the state;

• commercial, noncommercial and private applicators who apply pesticides to potato or hybrid poplar fields to file monthly records of pesticide applications; and

• the commissioner to assess penalty fees to applicators for failure to comply at $25 for each of the first four times the applicator fails to submit a required record by the monthly deadline.

A $1,000 penalty would also be assessed to those using the public information for data mining or other commercial purposes.

Tschumper said his bill is based on a pesticide regulation report released in March 2006 by the Office of the Legislative Auditor. The report said the department needed to improve its written communications with complainants, and should extend to comparably risky applications, the requirement for land managers to provide advance notice on pesticide applications toxic to bees.

Rep. Dan Severson (R-Sauk Rapids) said a penalty isn’t going to stop a competitor from using the public data to expand their business at the cost of somebody else.

A companion bill, SF2994, sponsored by Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes (DFL-Winona), awaits action by the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Committee.

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