Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990 TAG: 9005040147
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said there was no cause for consumer alarm, but the agency temporarily stopped sale of the chemical last month after its manufacturer found potatoes with higher residues than allowed by the government.
Probably fewer than one in 10 Virginia potato growers used aldicarb this year, but all may feel the effects of the publicity, Marvin Lawson, director of the state's Office of Pesticide Management, told the state Pesticide Control Board at a meeting here.
He said aldicarb's toxic effects range from mild flu-like symptoms to depression.
The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has written potato growers to let them know about the EPA's stop-sale order. Most Virginia potatoes, grown primarily in eastern Virginia, are shipped out of state to make potato chips, Lawson said.
He said the department will certify potatoes as aldicarb-free after state tests of a grower's produce.
Lawson told the board that one of his agency's investigators confirmed that Furadan 15G, a granular pesticide, killed 200 blackbirds in an Essex County cornfield last month. Investigators also blamed the pesticide for the March deaths of 30 birds in an Accomack County potato field.
The EPA proposed more than a year ago that the pesticide be banned. Lawson said a final decision is expected by fall.
The 11-member pesticide board, created last year by then-Gov. Gerald Baliles, is learning how complicated and expensive it will be to safely dispose of old farm chemicals.
Months ago, the board set out to arrange a spring "clean day" to collect discarded pesticides in three counties. The pilot project, though, has bogged down in high costs and complex state and federal regulations on hazardous waste.
In just the three counties - Frederick, Clarke and Northumberland - county extension agents found there were at least 14,500 pounds of unwanted dry pesticides and more than 800 gallons of liquid chemicals.
Laboratories must identify all the pesticides before the state can figure out how to properly dispose of them. But farmers could not identify a third of the 321 containers of pesticides. State technicians are still analyzing them.
The scientific complexities, the upcoming bidding by contractors for the job and a cost that could shoot as high as $400,000 for disposal in only three counties has delayed the clean day, now expected in late summer. Similar collections in other counties will take years.
The first of dozens of new pesticide regulations - one that will set fees for pesticide sales and commercial uses to pay for the state's ambitious new oversight of the chemicals - is expected to go into effect by early July.
Other regulations, such as those to license pest-control operators, lawn-care companies and other commercial users of pesticides, will not be final for months.
A hearing here Wednesday brought suggestions for fine-tuning the regulations, which are to be re-worked and published after another hearing in Richmond on Monday.
by CNB