Pesticide Regulation Agency Benefits from Crackdown on Unpaid Fees

By Daniel Hawn

Published on January 22, 2007

The increased budget sets the department’s inflation-adjusted budget equal to that of 2001, the year before a series of substantial budget cuts and revisions. With the extra funds, the agency aims to eliminate major pesticide incidents in California completely. According to department director Mary-Ann Warmerdam, aiming lower would be a concession to a certain level of exposure – something the department cannot accept. There are currently about 50 major incidents reported annually in the state.

In 2005, almost 200 million pounds of commercial pesticides were applied to California’s crops. Many such pesticides are extremely toxic and slow to dissipate, posing a serious risk to the health of local populations and consumers worldwide. Pesticides have been shown to be responsible for many serious conditions, from short-term acute respiratory distress to long-term problems such as cancer and serious reproductive and neurological damage.

The pesticide department plans to hire 15 new employees. It also intends to reinstate a program to reward farmers for switching to less-toxic alternative pesticides. The department’s enforcement division will also be scaled up to reflect the growing market as well as new laws and regulations. The agency hopes to avoid banning chemicals that are important to farming operations. Instead, it wants to focus on controlling the use of these chemicals to maximize public safety.

Comment on this article →