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Pesticide News Story: EPA Pilot Projects Make Emergency Exempted and Special Local Needs Pesticides Available In Indian Country
For Release: November 3, 2005
On November 1, 2005, the EPA Administrator authorized two findings that will allow growers in Indian country to use the same pesticides for combating pests in emergency situations as growers on neighboring land. In order to test the feasibility of this approach, the Agency is implementing two pilot projects. The first will allow growers in the Yakama Reservation and other Yakama Nation Indian country in Washington State to have access to all pesticides that are approved for use in counties geographically encompassing or contiguous to such Indian country through the emergency exemption and special local needs provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The second pilot project will allow growers in Indian country nationwide to use emergency exempted and special local needs pesticides that are approved for use in counties geographically encompassing or contiguous to such areas of Indian country against a newly arrived pest species called Asian soybean rust, an extraordinarily destructive fungus that was first discovered in the United States in September 2004.
Since November 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed the presence of soybean rust in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Yield losses of up to 80 percent have been reported in areas of South America and Africa as a result of untreated infection. Because of the potential impact of this new pest, EPA has approved emergency exemption requests from as many as 33 states for 12 different products, in addition to the 8 pesticides that are fully registered for this use. For more information on pesticides that EPA has made available to combat soybean rust, please see http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb_page/updates/soybean_rust.htm.
Under federal pesticide law, growers in Indian country do not explicitly have access to the benefits of pesticide emergency exemptions or special local needs registrations. These exceptions to full registration are especially useful when growers in a particular region identify a problem that currently registered pesticides will not alleviate, such as the arrival of a new pest species from abroad. Without the added protection of these exceptions, pest infestations could go unchecked in Indian country, with the potential to devastate crops in Indian country and beyond. In the worst case scenario, untreated fields in Indian country could act as a safe haven for pest species, allowing them to easily re-infest nearby crop growing areas. Asian soybean rust appeared in the United States during the planning phase of the Yakama pilot project and, given the potential devastation this fungus represents, the Agency decided to implement the second, nationwide pilot.
Under these pilot projects, tribes will have the continuing opportunity to consult with EPA regarding the need for particular products in their areas of Indian country. EPA is also committed to working with tribes on outreach to growers regarding which pesticides are available for use in each tribe's Indian country areas. The pilots will expire in December 2007, after which EPA will assess whether or not this approach should be continued or expanded.