Did you know you can update your user profile, connect with your state association, register for a meeting or online training, and see all your previous NPMA orders online? Now is a great time to log in to your member profile and ensure NPMA has the most accurate information. Click here and enter your email address and password to update your profile. If you don’t remember your password, click here to reset it.  After you have logged in, visit the Member Center to update your contact information or review your membership details.

QualityPro released an alert earlier this summer on the marijuana policy and QualityPro standards. Many states for both medical and recreational marijuana are erecting hurdles for drug testing employees for marijuana. Most, if not all of these laws, have exemptions for various occupations, and our industry believes that structural pesticide applicators should qualify for those exemptions. However, we are in the process of working on this issue and discovered additional states that have amended their laws regarding employers testing for marijuana. These various states are supposed to issue guidance in the future to help us determine if our industry qualifies.

HB 3714, an act to create a special commission to study the effects of rat poison on wildlife, was recently heard in the Joint Environment Committee on September 10th. The bill is spearheaded by activist/journalist Laura Kiesel, who has championed various environmental causes. It is also supported by Massachusetts Raptors Are the Solution (MASS RATS) and Poison Free Arlington MA. There are parallels and similarities regarding the same organizations and strategies that pushed the rodenticide ban in CA. In August/September of 2018, MASS RATS expressed a desire to ban rodenticides in MA through a ballot initiative; however, it appears that a study bill (HB 3714) has replaced banning rodenticides through a ballot initiative for the time being. NPMA, NEPMA, MA SPARs Ted Brayton and Bill Siegal, and NEPMA President Galvin Murphy, Jr. are heavily engaged and submitted written testimony. NEPMA expressed in their written testimony that they opposed H. 3714 due to a lack of evidence that a problem exists that would prompt this bill, it deviates greatly from the scientific regulatory process, and is duplicative because our industry already employs IPM tactics and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) already have processes in place to evaluate pesticides to ensure that there is not adverse harm to human health and the environment.

 As a membership benefit, NPMA has developed a gallery of 
pest images at My.NPMAPestWorld.org for use by NPMA members.

 

The ME Dept of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is hosting a 2-day class at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, October 29-30, on recognition, prevention and control of rats and mice.

Fox News
A family claims that they unknowingly ate food that was covered in bugs at Disney World. According to their lawsuit, the family became ill after eating the food and made several trips to the emergency room.

The Travel
Are you looking to move to a new location? If so, you might want to consider whether or not the city you're looking at has issues with pests such as roaches.