Jan 5, 2012 – Changing A Pesticide
QUESTION:
Is the physical modification of pesticides by a commercial applicator legal in any state in the U.S.? For example, if Niban Granular Insect Bait were purchased and then modified into smaller granules by a physical blending/sifting process, would that be legal? If nothing like that is prohibited by the label is it something that can be done in Florida? Is the label only appropriate for the form that the pesticide is sold in? I imagine there MIGHT be some variance in the recommended application rate, but then again I think it is rated per pound, not by volume. I know this is an odd question and believe I know the answer, but appreciate your insight and appreciate having you to ask!
ANSWER:
Well, let's see how deeply I can get myself into trouble on this one. First, of course, if you were planning to RE-sell any pesticide you could not alter its form first. You could not blend it with other materials nor change the form it originally came in, as this would make you somewhat of a manufacturer yourself, and of course that would not be legal. If you do resell pesticides they must be resold in the form and original container that you yourself bought them in, unless you are licensed to make those kinds of changes.
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Is the physical modification of pesticides by a commercial applicator legal in any state in the U.S.? For example, if Niban Granular Insect Bait were purchased and then modified into smaller granules by a physical blending/sifting process, would that be legal? If nothing like that is prohibited by the label is it something that can be done in Florida? Is the label only appropriate for the form that the pesticide is sold in? I imagine there MIGHT be some variance in the recommended application rate, but then again I think it is rated per pound, not by volume. I know this is an odd question and believe I know the answer, but appreciate your insight and appreciate having you to ask!
ANSWER:
Well, let's see how deeply I can get myself into trouble on this one. First, of course, if you were planning to RE-sell any pesticide you could not alter its form first. You could not blend it with other materials nor change the form it originally came in, as this would make you somewhat of a manufacturer yourself, and of course that would not be legal. If you do resell pesticides they must be resold in the form and original container that you yourself bought them in, unless you are licensed to make those kinds of changes.
But, if you are only talking about making some changes prior to your use of a product, then I will offer two answers. The first would be to ask your own local regulatory agency for their guidance on this, as they would be the ones who would impose any action against you if it turns out to be illegal. The second answer is that "the Label is the Law" for a pesticide product right up to the moment that it is applied, and it would not matter what other things you add to a product or what changes you might make to it prior to use, you always have to follow the Label. If you mix several different products together, which is perfectly legal as long as any one of the Labels does not prohibit this mixing, you would have to follow the most stringent of the precautions and statements that exists on any of those labels. In other words, if one of the products was prohibited for use in a food area, the mixture of that product with others for application makes the whole stew illegal for use in a food area.
You would be correct in saying that the Label for dry products like granules and dusts will state that product's use as a certain weight per surface area - e.g. 1 lb of granules per 1000 sq. ft., etc. So, even if you ground those granules down to a finer texture you still would have to follow the Label on the amount used over that area. I think we would have to be realistic when it comes to changing the physical form that you purchase it in, and for a couple of reasons. First, the manufacturer has gone to a lot of trouble to come up with that product in the form you find in the package, and making granules smaller, for example, might actually be detrimental when it comes to effectiveness. Second, if we stick with this scenario of modifying granules to a smaller size, you could create some environmental hazard such as increased dust or drift when it is applied.
I will reveal a story about this from many years ago, and this I believe was with respect to some of the early insect granular baits. A complaint was that the granules were too large for some small ant species, such as Argentine or Odorous House ants, to easily pick up and carry away. Some vendor reps suggested putting those granules in a coffee grinder and pulverizing them to a smaller size. I somehow doubt that Costco would like us doing this in their public coffee grinders, and even worse this would be terribly illegal to put a pesticide in ANY container or device intended for human food. So, I don't know how you would be able to modify granules to a smaller size and still be legal.
If we think in terms of other kinds of formulations, such as a liquid pesticide, it may be legal to mix more than one product in the same application device, but it would not be legal to combine two concentrates in the same container and put them back on the storage shelf. Or, even if this turns out to be "legal" it probably ranks as a pretty bad idea. You would be starting to create a witch's brew that could get out of control. So, bottom line I suppose would be that if you needed a smaller granule for a particular pest or job the better answer would be to buy a different product that already offers that preferred particle size.
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