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Vol. 06 Issue 2, Spring 2001

Role of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the Implemenation of the Pesticide Reporting Law
The Ribbon 

Robert Haggerty, Chief
Pesticide Reporting Section
Bureau of Pesticide Management
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

The role of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in the implementation of the Pesticide Reporting Law has been to educate and facilitate the collection of data from the regulated community, work in conjunction with Cornell University staff to develop and implement a Pesticide Sales and Use Database, provide data to qualified health researchers, conduct water quality monitoring, and produce an annual report containing summaries of the collected data for use by the Governor, Legislature and the public.

History and Basic Functions

The DEC is starting its fifth year of collecting data required to be submitted on the commercial sales and use of pesticides in New York State. At the program's inception in 1996, however, things were much different. The originating legislation allowed for only a six-month period from the time that it was signed into law until applicators and sellers of pesticides had to start keeping data for reporting to the DEC. Much had to be accomplished in those early days in a very short time frame and much of the groundwork that now supports this program had to be initiated. Meetings were held with the regulated community in order to develop paper reporting forms that were easy to use and yet captured all of the data required by the law. These report forms had to be disseminated to the 16,000 applicators that needed them prior to the start of 1997 when the law took effect. A very intensive educational campaign was initiated to inform the regulated community of their responsibilities. This educational campaign continues even today, as refinements are made to the reporting process and as regulatory requirements evolve.

Annually, the DEC, in conjunction with Cornell University, presents a summary of pesticide sales, the quantity of pesticides used, the category of applicator and region of application. In addition, an overview of the water quality monitoring program established by ECL ยง33-0714 is provided to examine the potential effect of pesticide use on ground and surface waters in New York State. It is not the Department's role to draw any correlation between pesticide use and health impacts. This critical activity is the prerogative of independent health researchers who elect to use the database.

Education and Outreach

The DEC's pesticide reporting program performs a range of functions such as outreach to industry, environmental interest groups and cancer advocacy groups; interpretation and clarification of statutory and regulatory requirements; and development and execution of procedures for reporting and managing data. We place primary emphasis on the continued education of the regulated community in order to facilitate the submission of the most accurate data available. We annually conduct a series of technical workshops across the State designed to instruct the 20,000 pesticide applicators and technicians on how to properly report their pesticide applications. Thousands of applicators and technicians attend these workshops, as well as representatives from pesticide businesses and agencies. The DEC also participates in numerous events that take place in every corner of NYS, to provide information to pesticide user groups and associations, breast cancer advocacy groups, environmental advocacy groups, the public and others. Some of these events include Empire State Farm Days, the New York State Fair, New York State Flower Show as well as many local events, seminars and meetings. These events reach thousands of interested parties each year. We also mass-mail information and forms to thousands of regulated entities impacted by the Pesticide Reporting Law.

In addition, the DEC continues its communication links with regulated entities through an e-mail address (prl@gw.dec.state.ny.us) and a toll-free telephone number where thousands of calls are received each year. Customers can have questions answered, receive forms or conduct other business associated with the pesticide program. We also operate a website (http://www.dec.state.ny.us), on which there are Pesticide Reporting webpages located. These webpages provide access to the law, guidance materials, report forms that can be downloaded and printed, and the annual report data on pesticide sales and use in NYS.

Refining the Reporting and Report Management Process

The DEC continues to refine the process for reporting and the system for managing reports received. There is a quality control program where staff evaluate incoming reports to ensure basic criteria are being met. The criteria were established to maximize the volume of data that would be transferable into Cornell's master database. If a report does not meet these criteria, staff seek to correct the report, if possible, through telephone discussion or by mail with the person filing the report. This approach minimizes the number of rejected reports. The goal is to maximize the quantity and quality of data available to health researchers and other users of the data. Through a contract with a computer consultant, the DEC has established a website to enable regulated entities to report on line electronically. This effort has simplified the reporting process for pesticide applicators and businesses by avoiding the printing and mailing of thousands of pages of data. This feature also spares the DEC the expense of having to pay a contractor to reenter all of the data back into a database. More importantly, not having to handle all of those paper reports and not having to reenter the data, eliminates steps in the process where errors could be introduced into the data or reports could be lost. Therefore allowing electronic submission not only benefits the regulated community and the DEC, but also results in better data for health researchers. We will continue to strongly encourage electronic reporting into the future.

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Last Update 06.18.01