Missouri: NPMA, Missouri Pest Management Association, and American Mosquito Control Association & Affiliates Team-up to Defend Pesticide Preemption
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Last week, NPMA working with the Missouri Pest Management Association sent a letter to the City of Webster Groves, MO and copied the Missouri Attorney General regarding how the City’s Pesticide Application Policy would be preempted—and thus, null, void, and of no effect—if it in any way compelled professional pesticide applicators to provide advance notice of pesticide applications, including, in the words of the Resolution, a “brief description” of potential “effects” on children, adults, pets, and the environment, and “[b]rief instructions of precautions . . . to lessen or safeguard . . . against these effects.” Neither federal nor State law imposes any such general notification requirement prior to application of pesticides, whose potential risks are scientifically assessed and mitigated primarily by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under FIFRA. Additionally, AMCA and their affiliates have sent their own letter echoing our industry’s concerns.
Background: A suburb of St. Louis, named, Webster Groves, MO adopted a non-binding resolution regarding outdoor pesticide applications that “urges” pesticide applicators and customers to follow 24-hour prior notification procedures for applications within 185 feet of the property line, disclose how the pesticide(s) may affect pets, adults, children, and the surrounding environment, etc., and precautions that may be taken to lessen the effects of the pesticide(s) in question. Apparently, the impetus for this ordinance is the fear of pesticides applied during residential and municipal mosquito control. Since the ordinance uses the word “URGES,” it is non-binding compared to if it said “must” or “shall.”
Regulatory Confusion: Missouri currently preempts (does not allow) local governments to regulate pesticides pursuant to MO Rev Stat § 281.005. NPMA and MPMA have interpreted that even if the resolution is non-binding, it still conflicts with the state’s pesticide preemption law.
