Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-92
Section 111.24 - DefinitionsAs used in this act:
(1) "Active ingredient" means:(i) in the case of a pesticide other than a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, an ingredient which will prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest;(ii) in the case of a plant regulator, an ingredient which, through physiological action, will accelerate or retard the rate of growth or rate of maturation or otherwise alter the behavior of ornamental or crop plants or the product thereof;(iii) in the case of a defoliant, an ingredient which will cause the leaves or foliage to drop from a plant; and(iv) in the case of a desiccant, an ingredient which will artificially accelerate the drying of plant tissue.(2) "Administrator" means the administrator of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.(3) "Adulterated" applies to any pesticide if:(i) its strength or purity falls below the professed standard of quality as expressed on its labeling under which it is sold;(ii) any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the pesticide; or(iii) any valuable constituent of the pesticide has been wholly or in part abstracted.(4) "Animal" means all vertebrate and invertebrate species, including but not limited to man and other mammals, birds, fish, and shellfish.(5) "Antidote" means a practical treatment in case of poisoning and includes first-aid treatment.(6) "Applicator" means certified applicator, private applicator, commercial applicator or public applicator. (A) "Certified applicator" means any individual who is certified under section 16.1, 17 or 17.1 of this act as competent to use or supervise the use or application of any pesticide.(B) "Private applicator" means a certified applicator who uses or supervises the use of any pesticide which is classified for restricted use for purposes of producing any agricultural commodity on property owned or rented by him or his employer or, if applied without compensation other than trading of personal services between producers of agricultural commodities, on the property of another person.(C) "Commercial applicator" means a certified applicator (whether or not he is a private applicator with respect to some uses) who uses or supervises the use of any pesticide on the property or premises of another, or on easements granted under State law, or any applicator who uses or supervises the use of any restricted use pesticide on property owned or rented by him or his employer, when not for purposes of producing an agricultural product. The secretary may by regulation deem certain types of applicators using any pesticide on their own property or that of his employer as commercial applicators.(D) "Public applicator" means any certified applicator who applies pesticides as an employe of the State or its instrumentalities or any local agency.(E) "Pesticide application technician" means any individual employed by a commercial applicator or governmental agency who, having met the competency requirements of section 16.1 of this act, is registered by the secretary to apply any pesticides under the direct supervision of a certified applicator.(7) "Beneficial insects" means those insects which, during their life cycle, are effective pollinators of plants, are parasites or predators of pests, or are otherwise beneficial.(8) "Board" means the Pesticide Advisory Board.(9) "Defoliant" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for causing the leaves or foliage to drop from a plant, with or without causing abscission.(9.1) "Department" means the Department of Agriculture of the Commonwealth.(10) "Desiccant" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for artificially accelerating the drying of plant tissue.(11) "Device" means any instrument or contrivance (other than a firearm) which is intended for trapping, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest or any other form of plant or animal life (other than man and other than bacteria, virus, or other microorganism on or in living man or other living animals); but not including equipment used for the application of pesticides when sold separately therefrom.(12) "Distribute" means to offer for sale, hold for sale, sell, barter, or supply pesticides in this State.(13) "Environment" includes water, air, land, and all plants and man and other animals living therein, and the interrelationships which exist among these.(14) "Equipment" means any type of ground, water or aerial equipment or contrivance using motorized, mechanical or pressurized power and used to apply any pesticide on land and anything that may be growing, habitating or stored on or in such land, but shall not include any pressurized hand-sized household apparatus used to apply any pesticide, or any equipment or contrivance of which the person who is applying the pesticide is the source of power or energy in pesticide application.(15) "Establishment" means any place where a pesticide or device is produced, or held, for distribution or sale.(16) "Fungus" means any non-chlorophyll bearing thallophyte (that is, any non-chlorophyll bearing plant of a lower order than mosses and liverworts), as for example, rust, smut, mildew, mold, yeast, and bacteria, except those on or in living man or other animals and those on or in processed food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals.(17) "Highly toxic" means any highly toxic pesticide as determined by the administrator.(18) "Imminent hazard" means a situation which exists when the continued use of a pesticide during the time required for cancellation proceeding would be likely to result in unreasonable adverse effects on the environment or will involve unreasonable hazard to the survival of a species declared endangered by the Secretary of the Interior of the United States under Public Law 91-135. (19) "Inert ingredient" means an ingredient which is not active.(20) "Ingredient statement" means a statement which contains: (i) the name and percentage of each active ingredient, and the total percentage of all inert ingredients, in the pesticide; and(ii) if the pesticide contains arsenic in any form, a statement of the percentages of total and water soluble arsenic, calculated as elementary arsenic.(21) "Insect" means any of the numerous small invertebrate animals generally having the body more or less obviously segmented, for the most part belonging to the class insecta, comprising six-legged, usually winged forms, as for example, beetles, bugs, bees, flies, and to other allied classes of arthropods whose members are wingless and usually have more than six legs, as for example, spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice.(22) "Label" means the written, printed, or graphic matter on, or attached to, the pesticide or device or any of its containers or wrappers.(23) "Labeling" pertaining to pesticide registration means all labels and all other written, printed, or graphic matter:(i) Accompanying the pesticide or device at any time; or(ii) to which reference is made on the label or in literature accompanying the pesticide or device, except to current official publications of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Departments of Agriculture and Interior, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, State experiment stations, State agricultural colleges, and other similar Federal or State institutions or agencies authorized by law to conduct research in the field of pesticides.(24) "Land" means all land and water areas, including airspace, and all plants, animals, structures, buildings, contrivances, and machinery appurtenant thereto or situated thereon, fixed or mobile, including any used for transportation.(24.1) "License" means written permission, issued by the department, to a business or person as authorized in sections 12 , 13 and 15.1 of this act. (24.2) "Local agency" means a governmental unit other than the Commonwealth government. The term shall include, but not be limited to, a county, city, borough, town, township, school district or municipal authority.(25) "Misbranded" means any pesticide which fails to be labeled in accordance with section 2 , definitions--(q) Misbranded--of the "Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act of 1947," as amended in 1972. (26) Deleted by 1986, Dec. 12, P.L. 1542, No. 167, § 1, effective in 90 days.(27) "Nematode" means invertebrate animals of the phylum nemathelminthes and class nematoda, that is unsegmented round worms with elongated, fusiform, or saclike bodies covered with cuticle, and inhabiting soil, water, plants, or plant parts; may also be called nemas or eelworms.(28) "Permit" means a written certificate, issued by the secretary or his authorized agent, authorizing the purchase, possession, and/or use of pesticides classified for restricted use by a private applicator.(29) "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or any organized group of persons whether incorporated or not.(30) "Pest" means any insect, rodent, nematode, fungus, weed, or any other form of terrestrial or aquatic plant or animal life or virus, bacteria, or other microorganism (except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms on or in living man or other living animals) which the administrator declares to be a pest under section 25(c)(1) of the "Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act of 1947," as amended in 1972. (31) "Pesticide" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest, and any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.(32) "Pesticide dealer" means any person who sells or distributes pesticides classified for "restricted use."(33) "Pest management consultant" means any individual who is not a licensed applicator, and who for a fee offers, or supplies technical advice, supervision or aid, or makes recommendations to the user of pesticides classified for restricted use.(34) "Plant regulator" means any substance or mixture of substances intended, through physiological action, for accelerating or retarding the rate of growth or rate of maturation, or for otherwise altering the behavior of plants or the produce thereof, but shall not include substances to the extent that they are intended as plant nutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants, and soil amendments. Also, the term "plant regulator" shall not be required to include any of such of those nutrient mixtures or soil amendments as are commonly known as vitamin-hormone horticultural products, intended for improvement, maintenance, survival, health, and propagation of plants, and as are not for pest destruction and are nontoxic, nonpoisonous in the undiluted packaged concentration.(35) "Producer and produce". The term "producer" means the person who manufactures, prepares, compounds, propagates, or processes any pesticide or device. The term "produce" means to manufacture, prepare, compound, propagate, or process any pesticide or device.(36) "Protect health and the environment" mean protection against any unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.(37) "Registrant" means a person who has registered any pesticide pursuant to the provisions of this act.(38) "Registration" includes reregistration.(39) "Restricted use" means the use of a pesticide which is classified as a restricted use pursuant to section 3(d) of the "Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act of 1947," as amended in 1972. (39.1) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Agriculture of the Commonwealth.(40) "Snails or slugs" includes all harmful mollusks.(40.1) "Under the direct supervision of a certified commercial or public applicator," unless otherwise prescribed by labeling, means application by a registered pesticide application technician acting under the instructions and control of a certified applicator who is available if and when needed, even though such certified applicator is not physically present at the time and place the pesticide is applied, or application by a crew of noncertified or nonregistered employes working under the instruction and control of a certified commercial or public applicator who is physically present at the job site.(41) "Unreasonable adverse effects on the environment" means any unreasonable risk to man or the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of the use of any pesticide.(42) "Weed" means any plant which grows where not wanted.(43) "Wildlife" means all living things that are neither human, domesticated, nor, as defined in this act, pests; including, but not limited to mammals, birds, and aquatic life.1974, March 1, P.L. 90, No. 24, § 4, effective 2/1/1978. Amended 1986, Dec. 12, P.L. 1542, No. 167, § 1, effective in 90 days.