Update from

National Pest Management Center Meeting

Washington D.C.

February 19-20, 2002

Attendees during the two days:

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Rick Melnicoe called the meeting to order at 8:27 a.m.

Jim Parochetti briefly discussed the CSREES reorganization. There will be minimal impact to the existing programs.

Dennis Kopp provided a CSREES update with the reorganization. Ted Wilson will be moving to Competitive Programs. Ralph Otto will replace Ted in Plant and Animal Systems. Dennis mentioned homeland security as an area that the PMCs should be thinking about. How can we fit in?

Al Jennings discussed issues that OPMP has been working on. Cumulative Risk Assessment is still undergoing refinement at EPA. The draft FQPA safety factor document is expected to be finalized in June. The next 1/3 of the tolerances are due to be reassessed by August 3, 2002.

Azinphos-methyl is still up in the air. EPA decided not to use human test data. Without these data, the compound does not meet risk criteria. There could be a long fight between the registrants and EPA.

The next CARAT meeting is scheduled for the end of February. Topics may be the issue of Transition and/or Worker and Ecological risk assessments.

Al advised us to watch closely the emerging debate on non-organophosphates risk assessments.

The draft PR Notice on Spray Drift has upset a lot of agricultural interests. Buffer zones are mandatory with zero drift allowed. EPA spoke only with registrants on this issue, not agriculturalists.

EPA may extend to 27 species, from 6, the number of non-target plant species required in studies. The SAP recommends keeping only 6 species.

EPA is drafting a policy paper based on the Talent Irrigation court case.

Activist groups are starting to use the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Act to try to force EPA on pesticide issues. The Justice Department seems ready to fight these cases. EPA has been moving towards settlements.

Ron Stinner reported that there are 490 crop profiles on the pmcenters.org web site. Staffing allows posting of most profiles within 24 hours.

NASS pesticide use data to the state level is now on the web site.

Each region presented a report. All four centers have provided or are in the process of providing second year funds to cooperating states. States have been required to submit progress reports and identify crop profiles, PMSPs and other activities they are and will be conducting.

Leonard Gianessi, National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, discussed the NCFAP's pesticide use database. This database used 1997 data and was intended to be updated every 5 years. The goal is to update it annually using NASS and surveys sent to Extension Specialists. The cost is approximately $250,000 per year. Pesticide trends are discussed in this web-based database. Leonard would like to see NASS take responsibility for this database within 10 years.

Linda Abbott and Mary Fox made a presentation on cumulative risk assessment. This presentation covered how the risk assessment models work and how different scenarios affect the outcome.

Al Jennings updated the group on the status of methyl bromide. The phase out is continuing to the 2005 cancellation. The critical use exemption (CUE) process will look much like the Section 18 process. However, an international committee will make final approval for CUEs. It is unknown how well this process will work.

Norm Nesheim brought our attention to EPA's review of the Worker Protection Standards (WPS). He mentioned that the hazard communication component has not been implemented.

EPA plans to implement a pilot project to address the WPS hazard communication component in Florida. EPA has established a working group for this project. Norm Nesheim is a part of it.

There are some who feel that worker training is inadequate. EPA also has a working group on WPS training.

Meeting adjourned for the day.

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Kathy Davis and Dennis Szuhay, EPA/BEAD, discussed mechanisms to fund and contact people to write crop timelines. The PMCs must be directly involved for processes to function.

Kathy expressed great support for the development of PMSPs. She confirmed that they are extremely useful to EPA. She did express regrets that budget cutbacks will not allow Washington, DC based staff to attend many PMSPs. EPA does want to be invited to all PMSP workgroup meetings and will support our efforts to develop PMSPs. EPA will make an effort to provide input about national issues to the regional EPA representatives who are able to attend local PMSP workgroup meetings.

Discussion ensued on partnering with other programs. Some of the Pest Management Centers have partnered well with IPM; others have done so at the state level. Dennis Kopp suggested doing something obvious to bridge the gap with IPM.

Contacts should be made with regional/state Experiment and Extension Directors. We should determine what their wants and needs are.

The draft Pest Management Roadmap will be discussed at a stakeholders workshop on February 21-22. The draft from this meeting will be widely distributed for comments. A rollout of the final document and concepts will form the basis for a Pest Management Symposium in March or April 2003. A committee is working on the planning for this 2003 meeting.

Commitments to support the Pest Management Symposium have been made from IPM. The Pest Management Centers agreed to contribute a total of $20,000 to support the conference. This amount will be withheld by CSREES from the third year grants to each region in proportion to the size of the region's award of the total available funds.

Requests for third year funding will be due April 19. A letter will be sent by CSREES notifying the P.I.s of the deadline and requirements.

Dr. Stephan Karpolski, Uniroyal Chemical, presented a seminar on the Agricultural Reentry Task Force (ARTF). The web site for the ARTF is: http://www.exposuretf.com/. The members of the ARTF have spent over $18 million on research. These data are being used in risk assessments.

The proposed budget for FY03 is level at FY02 amounts for the Centers. Most programs within CSREES are also level funded. In order to increase Centers funding, grassroots support will be needed. The web site for membership to the Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee is: http://www.house.gov/appropriations/sub.htm

Dennis Kopp expects the RFP for the next cycle of Center grants to be released after October 1, 2002, but before the end of the year. The funding to Centers must be on a competitive basis. There will be four administrative centers. Funding for base administrative support will be allowed.

The next National PMC meeting will be held in Washington, D.C. on May 29-30, 2002.

Meeting adjourned.