S-0166.1  _______________________________________________

                    SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8000

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By Senators Rasmussen, Morton, Snyder, Newhouse, A. Anderson and Hochstatter

Read first time 01/09/95.  Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Agricultural Trade & Development.

Petitioning Congress to introduce legislation on pesticide use for minor crops.

    TO THE HONORABLE BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, THE SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, AND THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, Approximately two-thirds of the farmgate value of agricultural production in Washington State is based on minor crops; and

    WHEREAS, Washington State is one of the most diverse agricultural states in the nation, growing a large number of relatively small but specialized crops of great significance to the American consumer; and

    WHEREAS, The continued production of these crops and their availability to consumers is dependent on the ability to safely and effectively control insects, weeds, diseases, and other pests; and

    WHEREAS, An essential tool in the control of pests in either a conventional or an integrated pest management strategy is the availability of pesticides; and

    WHEREAS, Without the availability of a full array of safe and adequate pest management tools, there is likely to be a number of negative consequences including:  Decrease in the exports of food products to other countries; increase in imports of less wholesome food products; farming communities will have less diversified economies and will be subject to more economic volatility; decrease of yield; increase in price; decrease in food supply and variety; decrease in ability to meet state and national produce quality standards; increase in incidents of food safety hazards; and an increase in use of products that have greater impact on human health due to higher toxicity than the products that were previously in use; and

    WHEREAS, The production of food in several states is similarly affected due to the lack of availability of pest control products for the production of minor crops;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the appropriate committees of the United States Congress inquire into the effects of the 1984 and 1988 amendments to the Food, Insecticide and Rodenticide Act on the availability of pesticides for the protection of minor crops and that legislation be introduced and voted upon that has considered the following provisions:

    (1) Extend the registrants' exclusive data rights by ten years, thereby increasing the time period over which pesticide registrants have to recoup the cost of registration;

    (2) Establish specific time periods for the Environmental Protection Agency to act on minor crop registrations as an incentive to registrants to pursue additional registrations for minor uses;

    (3) Provide for an extension in the time for registrants to submit data equal to the time it takes for the Environmental Protection Agency to act upon a request for a waiver, so that registrants are not inadvertently forced to develop data during the time the Environmental Protection Agency is deliberating on the waiver request;

    (4) Provide additional time for registrants to generate the necessary residue data for reregistration of pesticides for minor crop uses, or if the registrant is unwilling to finance the generation of the data, to give time to find other methods to generate the required data; and

    (5) Provide a temporary extension of registration for unsupported minor uses so that, if the current registrant declines to request the reregistration, other organizations have the time to comply with registration requirements before cancellation of the registration.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each member of Congress from the State of Washington, the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

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