Penn State Pesticide Education Blog

Today’s blog is written by Dave Scott, Chief, Division of Health and Safety in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Phone and email scams happen every year, and every year people get cheated out of a few hundred dollars or worse. And unfortunately, the items being sold range from everything from insurance, medicines, vacations, to even pesticides. We all need to be wary when responding to these offers.

The Scam

Recently a situation was brought to the attention of the Department of Agriculture. A farmer first called Penn State Extension who then relayed the information to a PDA Regional Office. This farmer received a call from a gentleman named “Matt,” who was trying to sell him a herbicide called “Trilene” for his farm. The farmer’s number is unlisted and the salesman was not forthcoming and very pushy throughout the call. The salesman made claims that the product would control broadleaf weeds in his fields for three years.

The salesman (Matt) wanted the farmer’s credit card number and grew impatient when the farmer told him that he wanted to check with his son before purchasing anything. Matt did provide the farmer with a phone number to call back, but a reverse phone look-up did not disclose the owner of the number. If the Extension office would try to call, they come up on the Caller ID as “Government Entity” so no one would probably answer. Other farmers may be facing a similar scam in our area.

Tips to Keep in Mind

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture recommends you only deal with companies and dealers that you know and trust. It is NEVER a good idea to provide any personal information or credit card information to any unsolicited phone or email requests.

• Out-of-state and off shore companies are hard to track down for returns or refunds.
• Even if you receive the pesticide or other product,  it rarely meets the advertised claims.
• The active ingredient in these products can generally be purchased locally for a lot less.
• Remember, if it is too good to be true, it probably is.

If you find the sales pitch hard to resist–Do your homework–ask for a phone number to return their call, get the address of company, the product name, active ingredients, and EPA registration number of the product. Also, ask for product warranty information and a written offer with an address to mail in the payment. Then check out the company and the product you are considering by checking with Penn State Extension, neighbors, and local dealers. You can also look up the pesticides that are currently registered for use in Pennsylvania. Go to http://state.ceris.purdue.edu/, select Pennsylvania, and then use the search criteria to ensure that the product in question is actually registered for sale in Pennsylvania.

Finally, just be careful! Scammers will sometimes pose as working for legitimate companies–when reviewing websites, look for inaccurate information as not all companies with the same name are the same. And only order when you are sure it is a good deal. And again, if it is too good to be true, it probably is!

Until next time,
Be Safe!

This blog is written by Kerry Richards, the Penn State Pesticide Education Program Director.

OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard Move to Align with Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)

Under its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) (29 CFR 1910.1200), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires  Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) for all hazardous chemicals.   In March 2012, OSHA published a final rule to align its HCS regulations with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The primary goal of GHS is improved protection of human health and the environment by providing chemical users and handlers with enhanced and consistent information on chemical hazards. The GHS is based on major existing systems for industrial chemicals, pesticides, consumer chemicals, and chemicals in transport, but implementation of the GHS would require some changes in all existing systems in order to achieve harmonization.

However, it is important for growers who use federally regulated pesticides to note that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet moved to amend its pesticide labeling regulations under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to align with the GHS. The differences between EPA’s current requirements and the GHS are related to classification criteria, hazard statements, pictograms, and signal words. For example, FIFRA pesticide product labels may contain the following signal words: of “Danger Poison with the skull and crossbones graphic,” “Warning,” or “Caution” depending on the toxicity level of the product, and “Danger” for a product that may be a potential skin or eye irritant. The GHS uses only two signal words, “Danger” and “Warning.” To illustrate, the label of a chemical that has an oral LD₅₀ of 550 mg/kg bears the signal word “Caution” under current FIFRA labeling practices but would require the signal word “Warning” under the GHS.

For pesticide products, FIFRA labels approved by EPA pre-empt OSHA’s label requirements, but not the requirements for SDS and worker training (except for certified applicators and agricultural workers for whom EPA has training requirements). EPA realizes that this may require users of the SDS that are prepared for pesticide products to become familiar with two different systems, at least until the agencies’ requirements are harmonized. As a result, EPA issued guidance in the April 20, 2012 Federal Register to manufactures so that when changes are made to the SDS to meet the OSHA requirements, the new SDS format will also be in compliance with the pesticide regulations under FIFRA.  This guidance is commonly referred to as Pesticide Registration (PR) Notice 2012-1.

Why the switch from MSDS to SDS?

For many years under the HCS, this last responsibility was met by maintaining a copy of the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each product that was considered a hazardous chemical, some of which are pesticides. Under the Haz Com 2012, the MSDS will be replaced with a Safety Data Sheet (SDS). Before the Haz Com 2012, there were several acceptable MSDS formats. OSHA’s adoption of Global Harmonization Standards (GHS) requires the use of a single format with 16 sections that appear in a specific order. Although this change seems to have become a cause for concern, in all practical reality, there is very little difference between the two documents.

Will the change require that both and MSDS and an SDS be kept for the same product?

For compliance with the new OSHA Haz Com 2012 regulatory requirements, maintaining both an MSDS and a SDS for the same chemical is not necessary. In the next few years as the SDS becomes available for individual products, they will replace the existing MSDSs. Although there is no requirement to keep the older MSDS once it is replaced with an SDS, a good management practice would be to keep an electronic copy on file, especially if existing stocks of the chemical were purchased under the older MSDS.

However, when the chemical in question is a pesticide and the content of the MSDS and the SDS differs, a copy of both documents must be maintained to ensure compliance with OSHA HazCom 2012 and FIFRA which regulates pesticide products.

References and More Information:

The following resources provide additional information on the required sixteen sections of the new SDS, what information is included in each section, which sections fall under OSHA’s regulatory jurisdiction, and guidance for working towards compliance with Haz Com 2012 while maintaining compliance with FIFRA for regulation of pesticide products.

APPENDIX D TO §1910.1200 – SAFETY DATA SHEETS (MANDATORY): Table D.1. Minimum Information for an SDS. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, United States Department of Labor.

From MSDS to SDS – GHS Brings Big Changes to Safety Data Sheets in HazCom 2012. MSDSonline: EH&S Compliance Made Simple Blog. August 20, 2012.

Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Hazard Communication website. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, United States Department of Labor.

Pesticide Registration (PR) Notice 2012-1: Material Safety Data Sheets as Pesticide Labeling. United States Environmental Protection Agency. April 20, 2012.

Until next time,
Be Safe!

All licensed pesticide dealers in Pennsylvania should have received (or will be receiving soon) their renewal notice for the 2013 Pennsylvania Pesticide Dealer License. One of the changes on this year’s renewal is the requirement to have a certified dealer manager on staff.

The new pesticide regulations effective December 11, 2012 require any person attempting to purchase a restricted use pesticide for resale or distribution to have a current and valid pesticide dealer license. The purchase and sale of restricted use pesticides also requires the dealer to have at least one certified dealer manager on staff at each dealer location.

A point of clarification, this year’s dealer license renewal requires the dealer to have a certified dealer manager if they want to renew their license. That is correct.  However, if the dealer only sells general use pesticides, the pesticide dealer license is not required. A pesticide dealer license is only required by a dealer buying and selling restricted use pesticides.

Please contact Bill Riden, our Pesticide Education Specialist at wmr11@psu.edu, if you have any questions or need more information.

Until next time,
Be Safe!