2017 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 46 - Agriculture
CHAPTER 13 - PESTICIDE CONTROL ACT
Section 46-13-20. Definitions.
For purposes of this chapter:
A. The term "active ingredient" means:
(1) in the case of a pesticide other than a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, an ingredient which will prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest;
(2) in the case of a plant regulator, an ingredient which, through physiological action, will accelerate or retard the rate of growth or rate of maturation or otherwise alter the behavior of plants or the product thereof;
(3) in the case of a defoliant, an ingredient which will cause the leaves or foliage to drop from a plant; and
(4) in the case of a desiccant, an ingredient which will artificially accelerate the drying of plant tissue.
B. The term "administrator" means the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
C. The term "adulterated" applies to any pesticide if:
(1) its strength or purity falls below the professed standard or quality as expressed on its labeling under which it is sold;
(2) any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the pesticide; or
(3) any valuable constituent of the pesticide has been wholly or in part abstracted.
D. The term "animal" means all vertebrate and invertebrate species, including but not limited to man and other mammals, birds, fish, and shellfish.
E. "Antidote" means a practical treatment in case of poisoning and includes first-aid treatment.
F. "Committee" means the Pesticide Advisory Committee.
G. (1) The term "certified Applicator" means any individual who is certified by the Director as being competent to use or supervise the use of any pesticide which is classified for restricted use.
(2) The term "private applicator" means a person who uses or supervises the use of any pesticide which is classified for restricted use for purposes of producing any agricultural commodity, including forestry products, on property owned or rented by him or his employer or (if applied without compensation other than trading of personal services between producers of agricultural commodities) on the property of another person.
(3) The term "commercial applicator" means a person engaged in the business of using or supervising the use of any restricted use pesticide on the property of another.
(4) The term "noncommercial applicator" means a person (including officials or employees of federal, state or local government) who uses or supervises the use of any restricted use pesticide who is not a private applicator (whether or not he is a private applicator with respect to some uses) or a commercial applicator.
H. "Defoliant" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for causing the leaves or foliage to drop from a plant, with or without causing abscission.
I. "Desiccant" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for artificially accelerating the drying of plant tissue.
J. "Device" means any instrument or contrivance containing or integrally associated with a pesticide, but not including equipment used for the application of pesticides when sold separately therefrom.
K. "Director" means the Director of the Division of Regulatory and Public Service Programs, College of Agricultural Sciences, Clemson University.
L. "Disinfectant" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any virus, bacteria or other microorganisms (except viruses, bacteria or other microorganisms on or in living man or other living animals).
M. "Environment" includes water, air, land, and all plants and man and other animals living therein, and the interrelationships which exist among these.
N. "Equipment" means any type of ground, water or aerial equipment or contrivance using motorized, mechanical or pressurized power and used to apply any pesticide on land and anything that may be growing, habitating or stored on or in such land, but shall not include any pressurized hand sized household apparatus used to apply any pesticide or any equipment or contrivance of which the person who is applying the pesticide is the source of power or energy in making such pesticide application.
O. "Establishment" means any place where a pesticide or device is produced or held, for sale or distribution.
P. "Fungus" means any non-chlorophyll-bearing thallophyte (that is, any non-chlorophyll-bearing plant of a lower order than mosses and liverworts) as for example, rust, smut, mildew, mold, yeast and bacteria, except those on or in living man or other living animals, and except those on or in processed food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals.
Q. "Fungicide" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any fungus.
R. "Herbicide" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any weed or shrub.
S. "Imminent hazard" means a situation which exists when the continued use of a pesticide during the time required for cancellation proceedings would be likely to result in unreasonable adverse effects on the environment or will involve unreasonable hazard to the survival of a species declared endangered by the Secretary of the Interior under Public Law 91-135.
T. "Inert ingredient" means an ingredient which is not active.
U. "Ingredient statement" means a statement which contains:
(1) the name and percentage of each active ingredient, and the total percentage of all inert ingredients, in the pesticide; and
(2) if the pesticide contains arsenic in any form, a statement of the percentages of total and water soluble arsenic, calculated as elemental arsenic.
V. "Insect" means any of the numerous small invertebrate animals generally having the body more or less obviously segmented, for the most part belonging to the Class Insecta, comprising six-legged, usually winged forms, as for example, beetles, bugs, bees, flies, and to other allied classes of arthropods whose members are wingless and usually have more than six legs, as for example, spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice.
W. "Insecticide" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects which may be present in any environment whatsoever.
X. (1) The term "label" means the written, printed or graphic matter on, or attached to, the pesticide or device or any of its containers or wrappers.
(2) The term "labeling" means all labels and all other written, printed, or graphic matter:
(a) accompanying the pesticide or device at any time; or
(b) to which reference is made on the label or in literature accompanying the pesticide or device, except to current official publications of the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Departments of Agriculture and Interior, The Department of Health, Education and Welfare, state experiment stations, state agricultural colleges, and other similar federal or state institutions or agencies authorized by law to conduct research in the field of pesticides.
Y. The term "misbranded" shall apply:
(1) To any pesticide or device subject to this chapter:
(a) If its labeling bears any statement, design, or graphic representation relative thereto or to its ingredients which is false or misleading;
(b) If it is contained in a package or other container which does not conform to the standards established by the Administrator pursuant to Section 25(c)(3) of Public Law 92-516;
(c) If it is an imitation of or is distributed under the name of another pesticide or device without disclosure;
(d) If any word, statement, or other information, required by this chapter or regulations adopted thereunder to appear on the label or labeling, is not prominently placed thereon with such conspicuousness (as compared with other words, statements, designs, or graphic matter in the labeling), and in such terms as to render it likely to be read and understood by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use.
(2) To any pesticide:
(a) If its labeling bears any reference to registration under the provisions of this chapter unless such reference be required by regulations under this chapter;
(b) If the labeling does not contain a statement of the use classification under which the product is registered;
(c) If the label does not bear:
(i) Name, brand or trademark under which the pesticide is distributed;
(ii) An ingredient statement on that part of the immediate container and on the outside container or wrapper, if there be one, through which the ingredient statement on the immediate container cannot be clearly read, of the retail package which is presented or displayed under customary conditions of purchase; provided, that the Director may permit the ingredient statement to appear prominently on some other part of the container, if the size or form of the container makes it impracticable to place it on the part of the retail package which is presented or displayed under customary conditions of purchase;
(iii) Directions for use which are necessary for effecting the purpose for which the product is intended and if complied with adequate for the protection of health and the environment;
(iv) A warning or caution statement which may be necessary and which, if complied with, would be adequate to protect the health and environment;
(v) The net weight or measure of the contents subject to the provisions of Chapter 9 of Title 39 of the 1976 Code;
(vi) The name and address of the manufacturer, registrant or person for whom manufactured; and
(vii) The registration number assigned to each establishment in which it was produced if required by regulations under this chapter.
(d) If that pesticide contains any substance or substances in quantities highly toxic to man, determined, as provided by Section 46-13-30, unless the label bears, in addition to any other matter required by this chapter:
(i) The skull and crossbones;
(ii) The word "POISON" in red prominently displayed on a background of distinctly contrasting color; and
(iii) A statement of an antidote or practical treatment (first aid or otherwise) in case of poisoning by the pesticide.
(e) If the pesticide container does not bear a label or if the label does not contain all the information required by this chapter or the regulations adopted under this chapter.
Z. "Nematode" means invertebrate animals of the Phylum Nemathelminthes and Class Nematoda, that is, unsegmented round worms with elongated, fusiform, or sac-like bodies covered with cuticle, and inhabiting soil, water, plants, or plant parts; may also be called nemas or eelworms."
AA. "Nematicide" means any substance intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating nematodes, other worms, or any other invertebrates which are destructive, constitute a liability, and may be classified as pests.
BB. "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, fiduciary, corporation, or any organized group of persons whether incorporated or not.
CC. "Pest" means (a) any insect, snail, slug, rodent, nematode, fungus, weed, or (b) any other form of terrestrial or aquatic plant or animal life or virus, bacteria, or other microorganism (except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms on or in living man or other living animals) which the Director declares to be a pest.
DD. "Pesticide" means (a) any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest, (b) any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.
EE. "Pesticide dealer" means any person who is engaged in the business of distributing, selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale pesticides classified for restricted uses for distribution directly to users. The term "pesticide dealer" does not include:
(1) Persons whose sales of pesticides are limited to pesticides which are not restricted use pesticides; or
(2) Practicing veterinarians and physicians who prescribe, dispense, or use pesticides in the performance of their professional services.
FF. "Plant regulator" means any substance or mixture of substances, intended, through physiological action, for accelerating or retarding the rate of growth or rate of maturation, or for otherwise altering the behavior of plants or the products thereof, but shall not include substances to the extent that they are intended as plant nutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants, or soil amendments. Also the term "plant regulator" shall not be required to include any of such of those nutritional mixtures or soil amendments as are commonly known as vitamin-hormone horticultural products, intended for improvement, maintenance, survival, health, and propagation of plants, and as are not for pest destruction and are nontoxic, nonpoisonous in the undiluted packaged concentration.
GG. "Producer" means the person who manufactures, prepares, compounds, propagates, or processes any pesticide or device.
HH. "Produce" means to manufacture, prepare, compound, propagate or process any pesticide or device.
II. "Protect health and the environment" and "protection of health and the environment" mean protection against any unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.
JJ. "Public Law 92-516" means the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act of 1972 which amended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947.
KK. "Registrant" means a person who has registered any pesticide pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
LL. The term "registration" includes reregistration.
MM. "Restricted use pesticide" means any pesticide or pesticide use classified for restricted use by the administrator or the director.
NN. "Unreasonable Adverse Effects on the Environment" means any unreasonable risk to man or the environment, taking into account the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of the use of any pesticide.
OO. "Under the Direct Supervision of a Certified Applicator". Unless otherwise prescribed by its labeling, a pesticide shall be considered to be applied under the direct supervision of a certified applicator if it is applied by a competent person acting under the instructions and control of a certified applicator who is available if and when needed, even though such certified applicator is not physically present at the time and place the pesticide is applied.
PP. "Weed" means any plant which grows where not wanted.
HISTORY: 1975 (59) 284; 1979 Act No. 180 Section 2.
