CONTACT:
Aimee Code, 541 344-5044, ext. 27
Matt Blevins, OEC, 503-222-1963, ext 103
Maureen Kirk, OSPIRG, 503-231-4181 ext. 306

Legislative leadership continued its stealth attack on the public's right to know about pesticides by failing to even discuss allocating the last installment of funding for a pesticide tracking system in Oregon. Funding for the program was dropped at the last minute from the E-Board's agenda.

The system to track pesticide use in Oregon was delayed last month when the Legislative Emergency Board denied the Oregon Department of Agriculture request for the last installment of the funds. This move by the E-Board will continue to thwart ODA's attempts to complete its development of the pesticide use reporting system.

"Apparently, the leadership's main interest is keeping Oregonians in the dark about pesticide use," said Matt Blevins of the Oregon Environmental Council. "Passing a law by 88-2 and then cutting its funding at the 11th hour is not only disingenuous, but is utterly irresponsible and makes it harder for farmers and other pesticide users to comply with the law."

A law passed by the 1999 Legislature requires anyone who uses a pesticide for a commercial or government-related purpose to report his or her pesticide use to the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). This law went into effect on January 1, 2002, and applies not just to Oregon farmers, but to urban pest control companies, public schools, golf courses, cities and road crews, among others.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) requested about $167,000 from the Emergency Board, or "E-Board," the last installment of the funds that had been specifically allocated to support the pesticide tracking program. The ODA has already spent about $1 million on developing the system that will allow it to collect information from pesticide users.

"We're learning more about how pesticides harm human health and the environment. The latest findings about a commonly used pesticide causing sexual abnormalities in frogs at extremely low levels further underlines the need for better information about pesticide use," said Aimee Code of the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. "This same pesticide, atrazine, was detected in 99 percent of the samples taken from the Willamette River."

Pesticide use data are intended to provide researchers, public officials and the public with critical information on pesticide use across the state to help protect public health, salmon and water quality.

ODA is developing an internet-based data collection system, the only one of its kind in the nation. To stay in compliance with the law, the Department set up an incomplete, temporary system that allows pesticide users to file reports. The temporary system falls short of meeting the law's mandates, as it cannot release data nor is it designed to accommodate the large volume of reports the agency expects in December and January (when the deadline for reporting for 2002 occurs).

The E-Board voted 7-7 in early October to deny ODA's last request for funding. Following that vote, ODA was forced to stop the process of developing the permanent system.

"As long as the system remains incomplete, no one will be able to access pesticide use information and it will be much more difficult for people to file their reports. The system may indeed collapse under the pressure from all the reports it receives," added Maureen Kirk of OSPIRG.

The 2001 Legislature allocated $2.7 million to develop and implement this new pesticide use reporting system. Instead of providing these funds directly, the Legislature gave the Emergency Board control over half of the money, forcing ODA to request small increments of their program budget every three months.