Oregon to restrict certain pesticides under proposed legislation

Date:01-02-2014

Oregon’s Portland lawmaker plans to introduce legislation recently that would effectively ban home gardeners from using some pesticides implicated in mass bee die-offs last summer in Wilsonville, Portland and other cities.

Rep. Jeff Reardon, D-Portland, is crafting legislation to add four pesticides to a restricted use list, which would effectively force home gardeners to hire professional pesticide applicators or use less effective alternatives.

The legislation is necessary to protect bees that provide crucial pollination for flowers and crops, said Reardon, a home gardener. Bee populations have also declined in recent years from colony collapse disorder, which some scientists say is linked to pesticide usage.

“These are dangerous chemicals,” Reardon said. “People who aren’t willing to take the time and effort to become fully educated, then they should look for alternatives.”

Reardon seeks to restrict the use of dinotefuran, imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, which belong to a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. The four pesticides are used in some Bayer, Ortho, and other garden products. The pesticide Safari, which contains dinotefuran, was used in a Wilsonville incident that killed 50,000 bees last June after pesticide applicators failed to follow label instructions.

Environmental groups support the proposed legislation, but the bill’s chances are unclear, particularly in the Senate, where environmental bills have faltered in the past year.

The bill will face opposition from groups like Oregonians for Food & Shelter. Scott Dahlman, the group’s executive director, says there’s no evidence that home gardeners’ usage of neonicotinoids has caused mass bee deaths. The Wilsonville incident resulted from “blatant misapplications” from licensed pesticide applicators, he said.

“Pesticide regulation should be based on science,” Dahlman said. “When we’re not seeing a connection to a problem here, yet we want to restrict something,that raises a lot of red flags for us.”

Neonicotinoids are also much safer for pesticide applicators than the alternatives, he said.

Gardeners like neonicotinoids because they’re absorbed through the roots, protecting plants from the inside out, and can last for a year or more, said Jimmy Mack, a manager at Portland Nursery.

“It’s a real easy application, and it lasts for a long time,” he said. “That’s why consumers love it, and growers, too.”

Neonicotinoids like imidacloprid are the most effective pesticides against some bugs, such as the lace bug that has infected azalea and rhododendron shrubs since it arrived in Oregon in 2009. Alternatives are less effective and would require early protection, Mack said.

“Consumers are going to be upset they’re losing their plants,” Mack said. “The onus becomes: How do you educate people on what to do next? It’d be tough, but I think we’d adjust.”

The Oregon Department of Agriculture in November announced additional education and testing requirements for licensed pesticide applicators, but Reardon wants home gardeners to meet similar requirements before they can use the pesticides.

Reardon wants the state to develop an online course that home gardeners would need to take before passing a test to obtain a pesticide license -- requirements that most hobby gardeners would be loath to meet. Computerized pesticide applicator tests cost about $58.

Oregon pesticide licenses are designed for commercial and agricultural uses, and the state currently doesn’t require licenses for private backyard uses of neonicotinoids, said Dale Mitchell, manager of the pesticides program at the state Department of Agriculture.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture last year declined a request to restrict neonicotinoids and said there is no evidence that use of the pesticides is a significant contributor to the decline of bee colonies.

Meanwhile, the European Union on Dec. 1 implemented a two-year ban on three types of neonicotinoids, citing “high acute risks” to bees in certain circumstances. Authorized uses are restricted to professionals.

On a federal level, Congressman Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, has proposed legislation to restrict four pesticides until the Environmental Protection Agency finishes its ongoing review of all neonicotinoids. Blumenauer acknowledged the bill is unlikely to pass.