See why pesticide applicators must take a new step before spraying and visit the Bulletins Live! Two website.
“A new step before spraying is required from now on. It’s not particularly difficult, but it is going to add to your pre-spray paperwork and planning,” shared a UF/IFAS Tip of the Week article. It shared the background of the new change and what applicators need to do, and it involves visiting the Bulletins Live! Two website before spraying.
Background Information
The change came about because, according to the article, “after multiple lawsuits, judges reaffirmed that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act does not supersede the Endangered Species Act and ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had not adequately considered the effect of pesticides on endangered species during the label registration process.”
Instead of adding new language to pesticide labels to address this—which would “require labels expansive enough to cover multiple diverse habitats nationwide”—the EPA decided “to add language to the pesticide label requiring applicators to visit a website before spraying—the Bulletins Live! Two website.
How Using the Bulletins Live! Two Website Works
The article shared these steps for visiting the website:
- Applicators will find the requirement to visit the BLT website “in the Environmental Hazards or Directions for Use section of the label, usually in a subsection called Endangered Species Protection Requirements.”
- “If required, applicators must visit the website and enter the application location, the intended month of application (up to six months in advance) and the EPA registration numbers of the intended products.”
- “The website will tell you if your spray location falls into what is called a Pesticide Use Limitation Area (PULA). If you are located in a PULA, it means you are within range of where applying pesticides may impact endangered species. If the product you are applying has been identified as posing risk to those species, the BLT website will provide additional directions for use. These directions are considered just as much a part of the label as what came attached to the pesticide container; you must follow them.”
- Applicators must “Print the BLT bulletin for your records. Once a bulletin is printed for a given month, applicators may follow it even if the online guidance changes between print day and spray day. For this reason, growers are encouraged to print BLT bulletins for all products they usually spray up to six months in advance to avoid surprising changes to spray limitations.”
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