On every container of pesticide, there’s a warning about it being a violation of Federal law to use it contrary to the labeling.
What is the ascribed penalty for a consumer (average person, not a licensed applicator) when they’re caught misusing a pesticide? If I spray a spider with roach killer, and the USDA is having a slow day, would I be fined? imprisoned? Does the law only apply to licensed applicators, and not consumers, but the misuse label is required on everything?
I know there’s no danger of the government caring about things like this, but I am curious.
Note: I started thinking about this because there’s the warning on Scrubbing Bubbles ™ bathroom cleaner, presumable because it can be used as a fungicide.
I doubt that the USDA would go after you for spraying one spider, even on their slowest of days. If you sprayed for spiders with roach killer and someone got sick and that was reported, then you could be in trouble. Or if you accidentally killed a bunch of beekeeper’s bees nearby. The wikipedia article does mention bee killings and has some other info you may find interesting.
Yeah, I think that’s pretty much it. Nobody is really watching how consumers use over-the-counter pesticides. Unless you caused some serious collateral damage, it’s unlikely that anything would happen to you.
For professionals, that’s another matter. A licensed pesticide applicator can get in mucho hot water is he doesn’t use the product according to the label - “the label is the law.” In most pest control companies, a technician who misuses a pesticide will probably lose his job if he is caught, even if there are no legal repercussions.
Just as a nitpick, the USDA wouldn’t go after you for pesticide violations even if you sent them video and signed affadavits of you spraying completely banned pesticide over hundreds of square miles of the U.S.
But the U.S. EPA, which enforces pesticide regulations in the US, might do something.
It’s like the warning label on plants that says something like “Patented - Propagation Prohibited”.
If you take cuttings to get a few more plants for yourself, it is really really doubtful the Plant Police will come haul you away in chains. If you make hundreds of plants from cuttings and sell them on Ebay, you might just attract the attention of law enforcement.
True. Interesting to compare patented agriculture with music and RIAA etc. I don’t steal music. I’ve taken cuttings from established plants I’ve purchased in order to fill out a planting bed. Is there a difference?
Farmers who use patented seeds have been sued by Monsanto for keeping some of the resulting crop to serve as seeds for next year’s crop (instead of buying new seeds from the manufacturer).
I have a purple ninebark that is patented. I’ve never taken a cutting, but I’ve had a couple purple offspring show up (along with more typical green versions).
According to that link, I’d be OK:
Sexual reproduction of the corn didn’t help the farmers sued by Monsanto, though.
IIRC, in that particular case the farmers had signed a contract with Monsanto (or its distributer) that specifically disallowed any seed retention or propagation.
Oh, there were some chemicals that are now known to be nasty carcinogens that were sold as pesticides in the 50’s and 60’s.
If you find some ancient pesticides in grandma’s old shed, do be very careful.
I also wanted to point out that this is another area where there’s a lot of state regulations as well as national ones.
Another anecdote as to pesticide misuse… a farm was being foreclosed, the farmer applied an herbicide that would kill his own crop (potatoes, if I recall correctly) and would stick around for years. He was prosecuted.
There’s a lot of illegal pesticide use composed of farmer A being careless and accidentally spraying a neighbor’s field.