7 U.S.C. § 136 — Definitions

These definitions apply throughout this subchapter, the federal pesticide law. (a) Active ingredient: the part of a pesticide that does the work. What counts depends on the product type: (1) for most pesticides, the ingredient that prevents, destroys, repels, or lessens a pest; (2) for a plant regulator, the ingredient that, through physiological action, speeds up, slows down, or otherwise changes how ornamental or crop plants (or their produce) grow; (3) for a defoliant, the ingredient that makes leaves or foliage drop; (4) for a desiccant, the ingredient that artificially dries plant tissue; and (5) for a nitrogen stabilizer, the ingredient that blocks or slows nitrification, denitrification, ammonia loss, or urease activity by acting on soil bacteria. (b) Administrator: the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. (c) Adulterated: a pesticide is "adulterated" if (1) its strength or purity falls below what its label promises; (2) another substance has been wholly or partly substituted for it; or (3) a valuable ingredient has been wholly or partly removed. (d) Animal: every vertebrate and invertebrate species, including people and other mammals, birds, fish, and shellfish. (e) Certified applicator, etc.: (1) a "certified applicator" is anyone certified under section 136i to use or supervise restricted-use pesticides; an applicator who only applies pesticides as a pest-control service, without handing over unapplied pesticide to the customer, is not treated as a seller or distributor under this law. (2) A "private applicator" is a certified applicator who uses restricted-use pesticides to produce an agricultural commodity on land they or their employer own or rent, or — if done without pay, as a trade of services between producers — on someone else's land. (3) A "commercial applicator" is any certified applicator using restricted-use pesticides for any other purpose or property. (4) A pesticide is applied "under the direct supervision" of a certified applicator if a competent person applies it under that applicator's instructions and control, with the applicator available if needed even if not physically present — unless the label says otherwise. (f) Defoliant: any substance meant to make leaves or foliage drop from a plant, whether or not it causes abscission. (g) Desiccant: any substance meant to artificially speed up the drying of plant tissue. (h) Device: any instrument or contrivance (other than a firearm) meant to trap, destroy, repel, or lessen a pest or other plant or animal life, except man and except microorganisms living in or on people; this does not include equipment sold separately for applying pesticides. (i) District court: a U.S. district court, the District Court of Guam, the District Court of the Virgin Islands, or the highest court of American Samoa. (j) Environment: water, air, land, and all plants and animals (including people) living in them, and how they interrelate. (k) Fungus: a non-chlorophyll-bearing plant lower than mosses and liverworts — such as rust, smut, mildew, mold, yeast, and bacteria — except fungus living in or on people or other animals, or in processed food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals. (l) Imminent hazard: a situation where continued use of a pesticide during the time a cancellation proceeding takes would likely cause unreasonable harm to the environment, or unreasonable danger to a species declared endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. (m) Inert ingredient: any ingredient that is not an active ingredient. (n) Ingredient statement: a statement listing (1) the name and percentage of each active ingredient and the total percentage of inert ingredients, and (2) if the pesticide contains any form of arsenic, the percentages of total and water-soluble arsenic, measured as elemental arsenic. (o) Insect: small invertebrate animals with segmented bodies, mostly six-legged and often winged, like beetles, bugs, bees, and flies, plus related wingless arthropods with more than six legs, like spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice. (p) Label and labeling: (1) "Label" is the written, printed, or graphic matter on or attached to the pesticide, device, or its containers or wrappers. (2) "Labeling" is all labels plus other written, printed, or graphic matter that (A) comes with the pesticide or device at any time, or (B) is referenced on the label or in accompanying literature — except references to current official publications from EPA, the USDA, Interior, Health and Human Services, state experiment stations, state agricultural colleges, or similar federal or state research institutions. (q) Misbranded: a pesticide is misbranded under two sets of rules. Under the first (1), it is misbranded if (A) its labeling is false or misleading in any way; (B) its container doesn't meet Administrator-set packaging standards; (C) it imitates or is sold under the name of another pesticide; (D) its label lacks the required establishment registration number; (E) required label information is not displayed prominently and clearly enough for an ordinary buyer to read and understand it; (F) its labeling lacks directions needed to use it safely and effectively; (G) its label lacks a necessary warning or caution statement; or (H) — for an unregistered pesticide meant for export — its label doesn't prominently state "Not Registered for Use in the United States of America." Under the second (2), a pesticide is also misbranded if (A) it lacks a properly placed ingredient statement, with narrow exceptions for container size or shape as long as the statement still appears prominently elsewhere; (B) its labeling doesn't state its registered use classification; (C) its container lacks a label with the producer's or registrant's name and address, the brand or trademark, the net weight (with reasonable variations the Administrator may allow), and, when required, the registration number and use classification; or (D) it contains substances highly toxic to people without the label bearing a skull and crossbones, the word "poison" prominently in red on a contrasting background, and instructions for practical first-aid treatment. (r) Nematode: unsegmented roundworms with elongated, spindle-shaped, or sac-like bodies covered in cuticle, living in soil, water, plants, or plant parts — also called nemas or eelworms. (s) Person: any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or organized group of people, whether incorporated or not. (t) Pest: (1) any insect, rodent, nematode, fungus, or weed, or (2) any other land or water plant or animal life, virus, bacteria, or microorganism (except ones living in or on people or animals) that the Administrator declares to be a pest. (u) Pesticide: (1) any substance meant to prevent, destroy, repel, or lessen a pest, (2) any substance meant to work as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, and (3) any nitrogen stabilizer — except the term does not include an article that is a "new animal drug" under 21 U.S.C. § 321(w) that HHS has ruled, by regulation, is not a new animal drug, or an animal feed containing a new animal drug. It also does not include liquid chemical sterilant products used on a "critical" or "semi-critical" device as defined in 21 U.S.C. § 321 — a "critical device" being one introduced directly into the body, bloodstream, or normally sterile areas, and a "semi-critical device" being one that contacts intact mucous membranes without ordinarily penetrating the blood barrier or sterile areas. (v) Plant regulator: any substance meant, through physiological action, to speed up, slow down, or otherwise change how plants or their produce grow — but not substances meant as plant nutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants, or soil amendments. It also does not have to include "vitamin-hormone" horticultural nutrient mixtures or soil amendments meant to help plants grow and survive, as long as they aren't meant for pest destruction and aren't toxic or poisonous undiluted. (w) Producer and produce: a "producer" is the person who manufactures, prepares, compounds, propagates, or processes a pesticide, device, or active ingredient. To "produce" means to do any of those things. Individuals who dilute a formulated pesticide for their own use, following the registered label's directions, are not counted as "producers" just for that. (x) Protect health and the environment: protection against any unreasonable adverse effects on the environment. (y) Registrant: a person who has registered a pesticide under this subchapter. (z) Registration: includes reregistration. (aa) State: a U.S. state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and American Samoa. (bb) Unreasonable adverse effects on the environment: (1) any unreasonable risk to people or the environment, weighed against the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of using the pesticide, or (2) an unreasonable human dietary risk from pesticide residue on food, measured against the standard in 21 U.S.C. § 346a. The Administrator must weigh the risks and benefits of public health pesticides separately from other pesticides, balancing a public health pesticide's risks against the health risks of the diseases it targets. (cc) Weed: any plant growing where it isn't wanted. (dd) Establishment: any place where a pesticide, device, or active ingredient is produced, or held for distribution or sale. (ee) To use any registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling: using a registered pesticide in a way the labeling doesn't permit — except this does not include (1) using a lower dosage, concentration, or frequency than the label specifies, unless the label bans any deviation; (2) applying it against a target pest not named on the label, as long as it's applied to the crop, animal, or site the label names, unless the Administrator has required the label to limit use to named pests because other uses would cause unreasonable environmental harm; (3) using any application method not banned by the label, unless the label limits methods to those named; (4) mixing it with fertilizer, unless the label bans that; (5) using it consistent with sections 136c, 136p, or 136v of this title; or (6) using it in a way the Administrator determines fits this subchapter's purposes. After March 31, 1979, this exception no longer covers diluting a pesticide below label dosage for agricultural or forestry use, unless the Administrator issues a regulation or advisory opinion — based on the study required by section 27(b) of the Federal Pesticide Act of 1978 — that specifically requires definite dilution amounts. (ff) Outstanding data requirement: (1) a required study, information, or data needed to make a determination under section 136a(c)(5) that either (A) has not been submitted to the Administrator, or (B) was submitted but the Administrator has determined must be resubmitted because it is not valid, complete, or adequate. (2) In making that determination, the Administrator must examine, at minimum, the study's relevant protocols, documentation of how it was conducted and analyzed, and its results. (gg) To distribute or sell: to distribute, sell, offer for sale, hold for distribution, hold for sale, hold for shipment, ship, deliver for shipment, release for shipment, or receive and then deliver or offer to deliver. It does not include holding or applying a registered pesticide or its dilution by an applicator who provides pest-control service without delivering unapplied pesticide to the customer. (hh) Nitrogen stabilizer: any substance meant to prevent or hinder nitrification, denitrification, ammonia volatilization, or urease production by acting on soil bacteria. This does not include (1) dicyandiamide; (2) ammonium thiosulfate; or (3) any substance that (A) was not registered under section 136a before January 1, 1992, and (B) was in commercial agronomic use before January 1, 1992, and whose distributor or seller has, since that date, made no specific claim that it prevents or hinders nitrification, denitrification, ammonia volatilization, or urease production, regardless of its actual use or purpose. Statements made only because a state legislative or regulatory authority required them in filings or labeling do not count as a "specific claim" here. (jj) Maintenance applicator: someone who, in the main part of their job, uses or supervises the use of a pesticide not classified for restricted use (other than a ready-to-use consumer product) to provide structural or lawn pest control — including janitors, general maintenance staff, sanitation staff, and grounds maintenance staff. This does not include private applicators as defined in subsection (e)(2); people who use antimicrobial pesticides, sanitizers, or disinfectants; federal, state, or local government employees; or people using non-restricted pesticides in or around their own homes, boats, sod farms, nurseries, greenhouses, or other noncommercial property. (kk) Service technician: someone who uses or supervises the use of pesticides (other than ready-to-use consumer products) to provide structural or lawn pest control on someone else's property for a fee. This does not include people who use antimicrobial pesticides, sanitizers, or disinfectants, or who otherwise apply only ready-to-use consumer product pesticides. (ll) Minor use: using a pesticide on an animal, a commercial agricultural crop or site, or for public health protection, where either (1) the crop's total U.S. acreage is under 300,000 acres, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, or (2) the Administrator, consulting the Secretary of Agriculture and based on information from an applicant or registrant, determines the use doesn't offer enough economic incentive to support registering or keeping the pesticide registered for that use, and at least one of these is true: (A) there aren't enough effective alternative registered pesticides for the use; (B) the alternatives pose greater risks to the environment or human health; (C) the pesticide plays, or will play, a significant role in managing pest resistance; or (D) it plays, or will play, a significant role in an integrated pest management program. A use keeps its "minor use" status unless the Administrator determines, based on existing data, that it may cause unreasonable environmental harm and it no longer qualifies. (mm) Antimicrobial pesticide: (1) a pesticide that (A) is intended to either (i) disinfect, sanitize, reduce, or limit the growth of microorganisms, or (ii) protect objects, industrial processes or systems, surfaces, water, or chemicals from contamination or damage caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, algae, or slime, and (B) whose intended use is exempt from, or not subject to, a food residue tolerance under 21 U.S.C. § 346a or a food additive rule under 21 U.S.C. § 348. (2) It does not include a wood preservative or antifouling paint product that also claims other pesticidal activity, an agricultural fungicide product, or an aquatic herbicide product. (3) It does include other chemical sterilant products (besides the liquid sterilants excluded from the "pesticide" definition), other disinfectant products, other industrial microbiocide products, and other preservative products not excluded under (2). (nn) Public health pesticide: a minor-use pesticide product registered and mainly used in public health programs, for vector control or other recognized health protection, including preventing or limiting viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms (other than ones living in or on people or animals) that threaten public health. (oo) Vector: any organism able to transmit a human disease agent, or able to cause human discomfort or injury — including mosquitoes, flies, fleas, cockroaches, other insects, ticks, mites, or rats.