Pesticide Spraying
The MLA has actively monitored state and municipal efforts to control West Nile Virus and Brown Tailed Moth. The MLA became an active member of the state’s inter-agency West Nile Virus Task Force and has tirelessly advocated against the haphazard use of pesticides for mosquito and other pest control.
Most recently, the MLA brought a bill before the Legislature to minimize the risk to Maine’s marine waters and organisms posed by the application of pesticides by proposing a tiered system of spray buffers to keep the chemicals back from the high tide mark. The Legislature has sent this issue to the Board of Pesticides Control (BPC) which convened its Emergency Risk Advisory Committee (ERAC) to make recommendations with respect the MLA’s bill. This issue will be back before the Legislature in 2006 for continued discussion. The BPC will be making its recommendation to the Legislature in February 2006.
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