SEDL / STP / STP764-EB / STP29343S

Regulation of Pesticide Application with Respect to Spray Drift

Holst, RW
Plant physiologist, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.

Pages: 8    Published: Jan 1982

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Abstract

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act mandates that the Administrator will make a determination as to whether a pesticide “will perform its intended function without unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.” Spray drift has become. in many instances, an unreasonable adverse effect to humans, fish, wildlife, and plants. Presently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is building its expertise to understand the overall subject of spray drift, the factors causing and affecting it, and the numerous problems that can be associated with it. In an effort to understand and evaluate spray drift, guidelines are being proposed that would afford the EPA the opportunity to collect data from actual spray drift tests. Certain regulations, such as those governing the quantities of pesticides applied, the buffer zones, and the use of aerial application, could be implemented as necessary on the basis of these and other actual data.