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NTC EPA AWARDED GRANTS AIMED AT REDUCING PEST. USE AND RISK

Release Date: 08/08/96
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NTC EPA AWARDED GRANTS AIMED AT REDUCING PEST. USE AND RISK

FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 1996

To improve public health and strengthen food safety protections from harmful pesticides, EPA has awarded grants totaling almost $740,000 aimed at reducing pesticide use and risk. The grants are part of the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP), a voluntary public-private partnership dedicated to reducing pesticide use and risk in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings. "These grants underscore the Clinton Administration's commitment to safer food for all Americans," said EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner. "They are consistent with the new Food Safety law advocated by this Administration and just signed by President Clinton to reduce health risks from pesticides on all foods, particularly for children."

Many of the grant projects emphasize Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is the carefully managed use of a variety of pest control methods (such as use of natural pest enemies, crop rotation, and judicious pesticide use) to achieve the best results with the least harm to the environment and public health.

The first set of grants, the PESP Partnership Grants, awarded $240,000 to eight PESP Partners. Partners are organizations that use pesticides or represent pesticide users. By joining PESP, partners have agreed to develop and implement strategies to reduce the use and risk of pesticides. The PESP Partnership Grants are administered by the National IPM Education Foundation.

The second set of grants, the EPA Regional Pollution Prevention Initiative Grants, awarded approximately $500,000 to 14 organizations. PESP is EPA's major pollution prevention initiative for pesticides.

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The 1996 PESP Partnership grant winners are:

1. Cranberry Institute (East Wareham, Mass): $30,000 for IPM programs for Northeast cranberry growers.
2. Golf Course Superintendents Association (Lawrence, Kan.): $30,000 for an employee pesticide safety training program.
3. Hood River Grower-Shipper Association (Odell, Ore.): $30,000 for standardized pesticide record-keeping among Oregon pear and apple  growers.
4) Mint Industry Research Council (Stevenson, Wash.): $30,000 for grower educational programs related to IPM. 5) Monroe County Community School Corporation (Bloomington, Ind.): $30,000 for IPM programs in Monroe County, Ind. schools. 6) National Potato Council (Englewood, Colo.): $30,000 for analyses of potato IPM programs across the country. 7) Tennessee Valley Authority (Chattanooga, Tenn.): $30,000 for researching beneficial vegetation that can reduce the need for pesticide applications along power line rights-of-way. 8) Texas Pest Management Association (Austin, Texas): $30,000 for Internet information exchange on Texas IPM programs.

The 1996 Regional Pollution Prevention Initiative Grant winners under PESP are:
1. University of Massachusetts (Amherst, Mass.): $35,892 to compare environmental impacts and risks associated with IPM and conventional farming practices.
2. University of Maryland (College Park, Md.): $26,456 for pesticide use/risk reduction strategies in Colorado potato beetle management.
3. University of Maryland (College Park, Md.): $29,600 to collect and provide information about non-chemical approaches for managing pests on ornamental plants for nursery growers, landscape managers and homeowners.
4. University of Georgia (Athens, Ga.): $35,882 for an interactive computer decision aid for managing weeds in peanuts.
5. Purdue University (Lafayette, Ind.): $38,051 for reducing insecticide use on corn.
6. Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (University of Wisconsin, Madison): $38,694 to enhance potato biological pest control.
7. Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas): $42,228 for an assessment of economic and environmental impacts of IPM programs in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
8. University of Missouri (Columbia, Mo.): $29,625 for an educational CD-ROM for pesticide applicator training.
9. Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colo.): $39,926 for training to reduce risks from residential pesticide application.
10. California Beet Growers Association (Stockton, Calif.): $39,960 to assess the use of pheromones (insect mating disrupters) to control the beet armyworm.
11. University of Hawaii (Hilo, Hawaii): $43,000 for hot water treatment of flowers and other vegetative material as an alternative to pesticides.
12. Community Environmental Council (Santa Barbara County Schools): $34,386 for pesticide reduction in Santa Barbara, Calif., county schools.
13. Washington State University (Pullman, Wash.): $38,625 to research patterns of pest pressure associated with field border vegetation types.
14. Pacific Coast Cranberry Research Foundation (Ilwaco, Wash.): $25,675 for IPM and water protection programs for Pacific Northwest  cranberry growers.

The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program is an outgrowth of the Pesticide Use/Risk Reduction Initiative jointly adopted by EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1993. The two major goals of the initiative are: development of specific use/risk reduction strategies that include reliance on biological pesticides and other approaches that are safer than traditional chemical methods; and, by the year 2000, having 75 percent of U.S. agricultural acreage under IPM programs. Since the stewardship program was established in December 1994, 52 organizations have joined PESP as either partners or supporters.

For more information about the grants, call the PESP hotline at 1-800-972-7717.

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