Action Alert: Defend protections from pesticide applications for sensitive individuals and families

The Maine Board of Pesticide Control is proposing to remove protections in its regulations for individuals and families who have health conditions that make them particularly sensitive to pesticide applications. Chapter 60 of Board regulations currently enables persons to petition the Board for designation of a "Critical Pesticide Control Area," (CPCA) when they can provide medical and/or epidemiological evidence that exposure to pesticides causes serious and/or longstand health effects, or when pesticide applications may threaten groundwater, endangered species, significant wildlife habitat or natural resources. In such CPCA's, the Board can impose special restrictions on the type or manner of pesticide application, prohibit pesticide applications altogether, or provide special notification provisions in advance of pesticide application.

In more than twenty years since this provison was enacted, only two such applications to protect sensitive individuals have come before the Board. One application, on behalf of a chemically sensitive child in Hope, Maine, was granted after hearing in 2000. The second application was referred to consensus rulemaking procedures and subsequently withdrawn by the applicant, a resident of Gorham, Maine. The infrequency of applications under this provision would suggest that the Board is not unduly burdened by considerations of requests for CPCA's.

Nonetheless, the regulation provides important protections from what could be life threatening situations as a result a variety of medical conditions including asthma, Gulf War Syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivity. In many instances, the availability of relief from the Board undoubtedly gives sensitive individuals leverage in working cooperatively with their neighbors to avoid harmful effects of pesticide use.

The Board proposes to amend Chapter 60 to make CPCA's only available to "groups of sensitive individuals in hospitals, nursing homes, residential care facilities or other complexes", not to single indviduals or families. The text of the proposed amended rule is available at:

http://mainegov-images.informe.org/agriculture/pesticides/pdf/board/Ch60Proposed.pdf

The Board will hold a public hearing on this proposal at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, March 18 at the Senator Inn & Spa, Embassy Room, 284 Western Avenue, Augusta. Interested persons may also submit written comment, by e-mail or first class mail, up until 4 p.m. on April 4, 2005 to:

Robert Batteese
Board of Pesticides Control
28 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04330-0028
TELEPHONE: 207-287-2731
FAX: 207-624-5003
E-MAIL: robert.batteese@maine.gov