Department of Pesticide Regulation

GUIDANCE ON INTERPRETING LABELING RELATED TO SITES THAT CAN BE TREATED

It has been brought to the Department of Pesticide Regulation's (DPR's) attention that there are some agricultural pest control advisers (PCAs) who are not familiar with DPR´s guidance on interpreting product labeling to determine the "sites" that can be treated. This has lead to cases where PCAs have written recommendations in conflict with the registered labeling for the product recommended, a violation of Food and Agricultural Code section 12973.

Generally, it is unlawful to use a pesticide on a site not listed under Directions for Use on labeling¹. If the labeling statement is structured to indicate that the list is exclusive, i.e., "deciduous orchards " apples and pears," then only those commodities or sites can be legally treated. For example, the Kanemite 15 SC Miticide label (EPA registration number 66330-38-ZA) states the product may be used on "Citrus (oranges, grapefruit, lemons)." Use of the pesticide is restricted to these sites

DPR acknowledges there are occasions when the labeling cannot be considered exclusive. When the list is preceded by "such as" or "including," the product can legally be used on other species covered by the general term. For example, if the labeling states "deciduous fruit orchards such as apples, peaches, and pears," the use of the product in deciduous fruit orchards other than apples, peaches and pears cannot be considered use in conflict with the labeling. Some labeling, particularly rodenticides, may not indicate a specific site and any interpretation of application sites could be quite broad.

Although this CAC Letter does not modify existing policy, this guidance supersedes and replaces the Site Interpretation policy found in Chapter 15 of DPR's Manual of Procedural Guidance for Enforcement Personnel.

DPR's interpretation is supported by the U.S. EPA Label Review Manual (LRM) used to evaluate labeling submitted by registrants prior to approval of product registration. The LRM Chapter 11: Directions for Use states under Site Groupings:

"If the use site is indicated by a broad crop grouping, such as "ornamentals," the registrant should be instructed to specifically identify sites on which the product may be applied in the directions for use: "Ornamentals: Christmas tree plantings, conifer seed orchards, and rhododendrons." In this example, the product user is restricted to using the product only on those three use sites. However, if a use site were indicated as "Non-cropland industrial sites, such as, airports, fence rows, roadsides, and associated rights-of-ways," then the user could use the product on any place that would fall under the category as non-cropland industrial sites. Reviewers should not accept an open-ended site list, including those extended by "such as" or lists ending with "etc.", where food uses may be involved."

The U.S. EPA Label Review Manual is available at: www.epa.gov/oppfead1/labeling/lrm/.

To increase the regulated community's knowledge about product labeling site interpretations, please take the opportunity during educational outreach activities to inform growers, applicators, PCAs, and pest control businesses how to apply DPR's site interpretation guidance.

If you have any questions, please contact the Enforcement Branch Liaison serving your county.

¹Reference: Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 156.10(i)(2)(iii)

cc:   Mr. James Shattuck, DPR Agricultural Commissioner Liaison
        Mr. Roy Rutz, Agriculture Program Supervisor IV
        Ms. Ada Scott, Agricultural Program Supervisor II
        Mr. Jim Walsh, Program Specialist