Clarifying the difference between windy and too windy caused a spray drift case to be thrown out of district court in Illinois. According to the Daily Environment Report Banner, criminal charges against a custom spray applicator were dropped because the label language was too vague. The label said the pesticide product should not be applied in a way that would cause drift.
The incident was an application of AAtrex 4 and Bicep II Mangum that was impregnated into
fertilizer pellets and applied with an air flow application rig. A neighbor videotaping the application claimed that the pesticide drifted onto her property. The wind speed at the farm during the application was recorded at 20 miles per hour.
The court found the label was vague and lacked meaningful guidance for enforcement of the drift provision and that any reasonable person would determine that spray drift would be associated with liquid applications, not pellet formulations.
(Sources: Daily Environment Report Banner, No. 57, ISSN 1521-9402; EPA
Office of Pesticide Programs Update, March 27, 2006; St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, March 17, 2006)