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Hawaii Pesticide Use Results in Fine02-22-07 | News

Hawaii Pesticide Use Results in Fine

The EPA penalized a Hawaiian school for improperly using pesticides to target non-native rats and mongoose (seen here). Ironically, mongoose were imported from India in 1883 to control the rat population but have since become invasive.

A school on the Big Island of Hawaii has paid $3,300 in fines for improperly using pesticides to combat invasive mongoose and rats. Schools, landscape contractors and property owners are all subject to fines if they fail to follow pesticide label or permit instructions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached the settlement for $3,300 with Kamehameha Schools for the improper use of a rodenticide within the Keauhou forest region on the Big Island, in violation of federal pesticide laws.

The EPA said the school failed to comply with the conditions set forth in an EPA experimental use permit. The permit authorized the limited aerial application of the pesticide Eaton?EUR??,,????'?????<

Kamehameha Schools, together with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, apparently set ground bait traps in violation of the permit?EUR??,,????'?????<

Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, an experimental use permit is required for the testing of any unregistered pesticide.

For more information on pesticide regulation and enforcement, please visit the EPA?EUR??,,????'?????< www.epa.gov/pesticides.