Spray Drift Update for PPDC, October 7-8, 2008

In 2007, a workgroup of the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) was formed to provide recommendations to EPA on how to address pesticide spray drift to water.

The PPDC workgroup issued their final report to the Agency in April 2007, which included the recommendation that the EPA issue a new PR Notice to standardize pesticide drift labeling across products using concise, clear, enforceable statements.

In February of this year, EPA formed a spray drift work group consisting of EPA headquarters and regional staff, as well as representatives of state lead pesticide regulatory agencies (SLAs).

The EPA workgroup has completed drafts of a PR Notice and FR Notice on spray drift labeling, which are currently going through review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The draft PR Notice contains
- guidance to applicants and registrants concerning revising pesticide labeling statements intended to protect people and other non-target organisms and sites from potential adverse effects that may be caused by off-target pesticide drift,
- recommended standard statements that should appear on all products that may drift during application,
- recommended formats to present product-specific use restrictions, which may be required on a case-by-case basis as determined through EPA’s risk assessment and mitigation processes.
These standard statements and formats will provide users with consistent, understandable, and enforceable directions about how to protect human health and the environment from potential adverse effects from pesticide drift.

The FR Notice provides
- background information on spray drift,
- a description of current and planned EPA actions to address drift, including the PR Notice, guidance to state enforcement officials on interpreting the new labeling, information on best management practices to reduce drift, and EPA's drift reduction technology (DRT) project, and
- a readers guide to the PRN, including a description of the key terms and concepts, and specific questions on which EPA is seeking input from stakeholders.
EPA plans to make the draft PRN available for public comment before the end of 2008.