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Staying Current 48 October 2014 Landscape and Irrigation www.landscapeirrigation.com In addition to the media attention earlier this year regarding the deaths of a large number of bees, the calls for pollinators protection legislation, and the attacks on pesticide use that may endanger them, state pesticide regulatory agencies are now also concentrating on your applications of pesticide products on the landscape. As a result, there's a higher likelihood you will be the object of targeted pesticide use inspections, particularly if you are using any of the products containing clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam (excluding granulars) for outdoor, non-agricultural foliar applications. During these routine inspections, inspectors will choose one of your recent applications, take the label of the product used, and compare all the directions and how it was applied. Usually, an inspection is done based on your records, but it can also be done out in the field just after an application. When the new bee protection label was required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) back in August 2013, the Association of Structural Pest Control Regulatory Officials (ASPCRO) became concerned about how the language could be interpreted for enforcement. It drafted and sent to the EPA a "Guidance for Bee Language for Neonicotinoid Products" document, in which it proposed clarification of the labeling. The response from Meredith F. Laws, Chief Insecticide-Rodenticide Branch Registration Division (7505P), Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. EPA, in a letter dated July 29, 2014, states: "The ASPCRO Guidance Document reflects the appropriate interpretation of the pollinator protective labeling for the products used in structural and non-agricultural pest control and we concur on the Document." Following is an excerpt from the ASPCRO's Guidance Document of which you should be aware: Language required for Non-Agricultural Products: Do not apply [insert name of product] while bees are foraging. Do not apply [insert name of product] to plants that are flowering. Only apply after all flower petals have fallen off. Interpretation: Note: For all of the following interpretations of the non-agricultural bee language, if other pollinator protection label statements found on the product label are more restrictive, those statements would take precedence. Unless otherwise specified on the label, the above statements for non-agricultural products apply to honey bees and wild bees that forage for pollen or nectar. They do not apply to control of wasps, Africanized honey bees or bees which are the target pest. (This is ASPCRO's current interpretation until a response from EPA to the October 2013 ASPCRO bee language letter requesting this clarification is received.) The non-agricultural use direction statements must be followed when bees are foraging in the area of an application site with flowering plants, when blooms are present. - Bees are foraging when they are actively visiting a site collecting pollen or nectar. - "In the area" is interpreted to mean the area immediately adjacent to the application site where blooming plants onto which deposition ■ By tom Delaney EPA Clarifies Pesticide Labels with New Bee Protection Language Bee Image ©Istockphoto.com/arlIndo71 IllUstratIon aBove ©Istockphoto.com/smartBoy10