2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 12 - Conservation
Chapter 19 - Pesticide Control
§ 801. Definitions
- As used in this chapter:
(1) “Accident” means an unexpected, undesirable event, caused by the use or presence of a pesticide, which adversely affects humans or the environment.
(2) “Active ingredient” means:
(A) In the case of a pesticide other than a plant regulator, defoliant or desiccant, an ingredient which will prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate insects, fungi, rodents, weeds, or other pests.
(B) 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 ornamental or crop plants or their produce.
(C) In the case of a defoliant, an ingredient which will cause the leaves or foliage to drop from a plant.
(D) In the case of a desiccant, an ingredient which will artificially accelerate the drying of plant tissue.
(3) “Adulterated” applies to any pesticide if its strength or purity falls below the professed standard or quality as expressed on labeling or under which it is sold, or if any substance has been substituted wholly or in part of the article, or if any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.
(4) “Agency” means any department or division of the Government of the Virgin Islands, including the University of the Virgin Islands, or of the Government of the United States.
(5) “Agricultural commodity” means any plant, or part thereof, or animal or animal product produced by a person primarily for sale, consumption, propagation, or other use by humans or animals.
(6) “Animal” means a vertebrate or invertebrate species, including man, other mammals, birds, fish, and shellfish.
(7) “Antidote” means a practical treatment used in preventing or lessening ill effects from poisoning, including first aid.
(8) “Application of pesticide” means any application of pesticides by ground equipment.
(9) “Applicator business” means a person or entity that applies a pesticide or restricted use pesticide as defined in this chapter to the land or property of another for compensation and who:
(A) is a licensed commercial applicator; or
(B) employs at least one licensed commercial applicator.
(10) “Applicator certificates” means a written certificate, issued by the Commissioner authorizing the purchase, possession, or use of “restricted use pesticides” by private and commercial applicators.
(11) “Business registration” means the requirement of each person or business providing services of commercial application of pesticides, either entirely or as part of the business, to register with the department.
(12) “Certification” means the recognition by a certifying agency that person is competent and thus authorized to use or supervise the use of “restricted pesticides”.
(13) “Certified applicator” means any person who is certified under this chapter to use or supervise the use of any “restricted use pesticides” covered by this certification.
(14) “Commercial application” means any application of any pesticide except as defined in private or residential application of pesticides.
(15) “Commercial applicator” means an individual (whether or not he is a private applicator with respect to some uses) who uses or supervises the use of any pesticide which is classified for restricted use for any purpose or on any property other than as provided by the definition of a “private applicator”.
(16) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources or his designee.
(17) “Defoliant” means a substance or mixture of substances intended to cause the leaves or foliage to drop from a plant, with or without causing abscission.
(18) “Degradation” means the decomposition of a compound by stages, exhibiting well-defined intermediate products.
(19) “Department” means the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
(20) “Desiccant” means a substance or mixture of substances intended to artificially accelerate the drying of plant tissue.
(21) “Development” means natural and normal growth before harvest.
(22) “Device” means an instrument or contrivance, other than a firearm, that is used to trap, destroy, repel, or mitigate a pest or other form of plant or animal life, other than man or bacteria, virus, or other microorganism on or in living man or other living animals. The term does not include equipment sold separately from a pesticide.
(23) “Distribute” means offer for sale, hold for sale, sell, barter, or supply.
(24) “Environment” includes water, ground water, air, land, plants, man, and other animals living in or on water, air, or land, and the interrelationships that exist among them.
(25) “Equipment” means any type of ground, water, or aerial equipment or contrivance using motorized, mechanical, or pressurized power and used to apply any pesticide to land, or to anything that may be inhabiting or growing or stored on or in the land, but shall not include a pressurized hand-sized household apparatus used to apply a pesticide or any equipment or contrivance of which the person who is applying the pesticide is the source of power or energy used in making such pesticide application.
(26) “FIFRA” means the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. Section 136 et seq.).
(27) “Fungus” means a non-chlorophyll-bearing thallophyte, including rust, smut, mildew, mold, yeast, or bacteria, but not including a non-chlorophyll-bearing thallophyte on or in living man or other living animals or on or in a processed food, beverage, or pharmaceutical.
(28) “Fungicide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any fungi.
(29) “General use pesticide” means a pesticide which does not meet the criteria for a restricted pesticide under this chapter.
(30) “Ground equipment” means any machine or device (other than aircraft) for use on land or water, designed for, or adaptable to use in applying pesticide as spray, dust, aerosol, fog, or in any other form.
(31) “Herbicide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any weed.
(32) “Inert ingredient” means an ingredient that is not an active ingredient.
(33) “Ingredient statement” means:
(A) A statement of the name and percentage of each active ingredient, together with the total percentage of the inert ingredients, in the pesticide; and,
(B) If the pesticide contains arsenic in any form, a statement of the percentage of total and water-soluble arsenic, each calculated as elemental arsenic.
(34) “Insect” means any of the numerous small invertebrate animals generally having segmented body and for the most part belonging to the class Insecta, comprising of six-legged, usually winged forms such as beetles, bugs, bees, and flies. The term includes allied classes of arthropods, the members of which are wingless and usually have more than six legs, such as spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice except those on or in living man. This term shall also include nematodes.
(35) “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, except those on or in living man.
(36) “Label” means the written, printed, or graphic matter on or attached to a pesticide or device or any of its containers or wrappers.
(37) “Labeling” means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter:
(A) Upon the pesticide or any of its containers or wrappers;
(B) Accompanying the pesticide at any time;
(C) To which reference is made on the label or in literature accompanying the pesticide, except when accurate, non-misleading reference is made to current official publications of the United States Department of Agriculture or Interior, the United States Public Health Service, state agricultural experiment stations, state colleges of agriculture, or other similar federal institutions or official agencies of the Virgin Islands Government or other states authorized by law to conduct research in the field of pesticides.
(38) “Land” means all land or water areas, including airspace, and all plants, animals, structures, buildings, contrivances, and machinery, appurtenant thereto or situated thereon, fixed or mobile, including any used for transportation.
(39) “License use category” means a classification of pesticide use based on the subject, method, or place of pesticide application.
(40) “Major change in labeling” shall mean any new label or labeling or any amended label or labeling for a pesticide product which contains an active ingredient previously registered and which:
(A) results in a major change in the use pattern for the active ingredient;
(B) changes the classification of the active ingredient or the product to general use or restricted use; increases the application rate; changes the percent concentration of an active ingredient other than an increase due to changes in methods of analysis; adds a previously-registered active ingredient or deletes any active ingredient; or
(C) any other change which significantly increases the potential exposure of any non-target organism or which increases the potential for a significant impact to man, property or the environment.
(41) “Misbranded” applies to any pesticide:
(A) If its labeling bears any statement, design, or graphic representation relative thereto or to its ingredients which is false or misleading in any particular;
(B) If it is an imitation of or is offered for sale under the name of another pesticide; or if its labeling bears any reference to registration under this chapter;
(C) If the labeling accompanying it does not contain instructions for use which are necessary and, if complied with, adequate for the protection of the public;
(D) If the label does not contain a warning or caution statement which may be necessary and, if complied with, adequate to prevent injury to health and the environment;
(E) If the label is not visible and readable on the outside of the marketing package, which is presented or displayed under customary conditions of purchase;
(F) If any word, statement, or other information required by or under the authority of this chapter to appear on the 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;
(G) If in the case of an insecticide, fungicide, or herbicide, when used as directed or in accordance with commonly recognized practice, it shall be injurious to man or vertebrate animals or vegetation, except weeds, to which it is applied, or to the person applying such pesticide; or
(H) If in the case of a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant when used as directed it shall be injurious to humans or vertebrate animals, or vegetation to which it is applied, or to the person applying such pesticide; provided, that physical or physiological effects on plants or parts thereof shall not be deemed injurious, when this is the purpose for which the plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant was applied, in accordance with the label claims and recommendations.
(I) If its labeling in any other way fails to conform to the labeling requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1972, as amended.
(42) “Nematode” means an invertebrate animal of the phylum Nemathelminthes and class Nematoda (an unsegmented roundworm with an elongated, fusiform, or sac-like body covered with cuticle) inhabiting soil, water, plants, or plant parts.
(43) “Person” means any individual, organization, partnership, association, fiduciary, corporation, or other entity, including any utility, the Government of the Virgin Islands, the Government of the United States, any department, agency, board, authority, or commission of such governments, any officer or governing body of the foregoing, or any organized group of persons whether incorporated or not.
(44) “Pest” means (a) any insect, rodent, nematode, fungus, weed, or (b) any other form of terrestrial or aquatic plant or animal life or virus, bacteria, or other microorganisms (except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms on or living in man or other living animals) which is declared to be a pest by the Commissioner.
(45) “Pesticide” means (a) a substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest, or (b) any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant. For the purposes of this chapter, the definition includes herbicides regulated under FIFRA.
(46) “Pesticide business” means any person providing commercial application of pesticides for hire.
(47) “Plant regulator” means a substance or mixture of substances intended through physiological action to accelerate or retard the rate of growth or rate of maturation, or otherwise to alter the behavior of an ornamental or crop plant or the product of an ornamental or crop plant, but does not include a substance to the extent that it is intended as a plant nutrient, trace element, nutritional chemical, plant inoculants, or soil amendment.
(48) “Private applicator” means an individual who uses or supervises the use of any pesticide which is classified for restricted use for purposes of producing any “agricultural commodity” on property owned or rented by him or his employer or, if applied without compensation other than trading on personal services between producers of agricultural commodities on the property of another person.
(49) “Registrant” means a person who has registered a pesticide under this chapter.
(50) “Regulatory agency” means the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, the agency with responsibility for certifying applicators under this chapter.
(51) “Residential lawn application” means the application of general use pesticides to ground, trees, or shrubs on property owned by or leased to the individual making such application. For the purposes of this chapter, the following shall not be considered residential lawn application:
(A) the application of pesticide for the purpose of producing an agricultural commodity;
(B) the application of pesticides around or near the foundation of a building for the purpose of indoor pest control;
(C) the application of pesticides by or on behalf of agencies except that agencies shall be subject to visual notification requirements where such application is within one hundred feet of a dwelling, multiple dwelling, public building or public park; and
(D) the application of pesticides on golf courses or other turf surfaces.
(52) “Restricted-use pesticide” means any pesticide or pesticide use classified by the Commissioner under the provisions of this chapter or regulations promulgated thereunder for use by certified applicators or persons working under their direct supervision, and any pesticide or pesticide use so classified by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator.
(53) “Rodenticide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating rodents or any other vertebrate animals that the Commissioner shall declare to be a pest.
(54) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and American Samoa.
(55) “Target organisms” means those organisms that the pesticide is intended to inhibit or destroy pursuant to its registered labeled usage.
(56) “Thallophyte” means a non-chlorophyll-bearing plant of a lower order other than mosses and liverworts.
(57) “Unreasonable adverse effects on the environment” means any unreasonable risk to humans or the environment, taking into account the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of the use of any pesticide.
(58) “Weed” means any plant that grows where not wanted.
(59) “Worker protection standard” means the federal worker protection standard as found in the Code of Federal Regulations, 40 C.F.R. Parts 156 and 170.
