In light of recent legislation that created a two-tiered registration fee for pesticides, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture's (NDA) Pesticide Program must now classify pesticides into one of two groups: specialty pesticides (see language below) or all other pesticides. Specialty pesticides are charged a lower fee than other pesticides for annual registration with the NDA.

Section 2-2624(37) of the Nebraska Pesticide Act defines specialty pesticide . . . : "Specialty pesticide shall mean (a) a disinfectant, sanitizer, germicide, or biocide or (b) a pesticide labeled solely for use directly on humans or pets or in, on, or around areas associated with the household or home life including lawn and garden and ornamental uses but shall not include turf as determined by the director."

In order to provide a consistent determination of whether a pesticide label qualifies as a specialty pesticide, the following guidelines will be used. The label reviewer should not assume that products labeled for "professional use only" or "restricted use" automatically eliminates a product from satisfying the following questions. Products labeled for professional or restricted use only may still be labeled exclusively for use on sites associated with the definition of a specialty pesticide. Also, we have determined the use of the word solely in subpart (b) above applies to all of the language of subpart (b), not just humans and pets. This determination was made from the perspective that if it did not apply to the language following the word "pets", there would have been a subpart (c) written.

It should be the goal of the label reviewer to make his/her determination based on the intended use of the pesticide (i.e., considering what sites of application are listed on the label). The intended use of the pesticide becomes even more important when a label does not specifically state the product is to be used in, on, or around homes and gardens. It seems logical, therefore, to utilize a key type system in making our determinations of a specialty pesticide. Labels should be reviewed by answering the following questions in the order they are presented. Definitions of key terms are at the end of this document.

Labels with clearly defined classifications (such as disinfectant, herbicide, fungicide, etc.):

1.  Is the pesticide limited to or specifically called a disinfectant, sanitizer, germicide, or biocide?

Yes	Go to #2
No	Go to #3

2.  Are there other uses listed beside disinfectant, sanitizer, germicide, or biocide?

Yes	Go to #3
No	The product is a specialty pesticide.

3.  Does the label include sites limited to use on humans, pets, household, lawns, gardens, ornamentals, or in/on/around the home, but nothing else outside of these sites?

Yes	The product is a specialty pesticide.
No	The pesticide does not meet the definition of specialty pesticide.

Labels with vague classifications:

Does the product indicate it is to be used for home use? Many products intended for use by the homeowner market will indicate "For the Home", "Homeowner Formulation", or have the word "home" in the product name or "Directions for Use". If the cover of the label doesn't contain marketing statements like this, the following tests can be employed to make this determination:

• Package size or packaging: Products packaged for small-size applications or areas are more apt to be intended for homeowner use.
• Product concentration: Products with low concentrations (such as ready-to-use formulations) are more apt to be specialty pesticides.
• Use rates: Products with use rates in ounces per 1,000 sq. ft., rather than pounds per acre; or teaspoons/tablespoons per quart, rather than pints or gallons per hundred gallons of finished spray are more apt to be specialty pesticides.
• Application equipment or methods: Hand-held or non-motorized equipment would be more apt to represent homeowner use, rather than motorized equipment, invert emulsions, aerial application, etc.

If the label satisfies all or most of the above tests, it is likely a specialty pesticide. If it only satisfies one or two but, obviously, fails the other tests, it is likely not a specialty pesticide. An example of this would be a wasp and hornet killer that is packaged in an aerosol can (homeowner size) with homes as a target site, but does not restrict the user to sites around the home ("for use in or on wasp nests in buildings," and "apply directly to insects wherever they land"). Even though the package size and listing of homes implies the product is for homeowner use, the absence of language restricting its use to households or around homes allows its use virtually anywhere (such as barns and commercial buildings), which exceeds the narrow definition of the statute.

Likewise, the EPA's Label Review Manual indicates that for residential consumer-use products, the sites listed should be limited to the home, yard, garden, and pets. Products intended for use by commercial applicators can have all of the same sites, but would also be allowed to include industrial and institutional sites. The NDA would classify the first example as a specialty pesticide, but not the second example (what EPA calls commercial use labels).

Definition of statutory terms:

• Disinfectant: Products intended to control micro-organisms infectious to humans (excluding those which are intended for use in or on living humans or animals). Note that "control" may not require complete elimination of the organism.

• Sanitizer: Products intended to sanitize surfaces by deposition of chemical onto surfaces, not to include treated articles (which are exempt from registration). The word "sanitize" would imply complete control of an organism.

• Germicide: Products intended to kill or control germs, even if the germs are not infectious to humans.

• Biocide: Products added to other materials (typically liquids) to protect the other material from biological infestation and growth. Examples are well drilling fluid additives, cooling tower algicides, products called slimicides, etc. We have decided to limit the size of the biological organism a biocide controls to that of single cell organisms and microscopic multicell organisms.

  Wood preservatives could be classified as biocides, and, therefore, specialty pesticides, as long as the label restricts their use to around the home, not to include fence posts, poles, or other wood not typically associated with the home.

• Lawn: Residential turfgrass rather than large scale non-residential turfgrass. Compare to the term "turf".

• Garden: Small scale residential vegetable and fruit growing plots. Commercial operations would be classified as agricultural or horticultural sites. Gardens may include fruit trees limited to in and around the household rather than at a remote site, even if the garden or fruit trees are grown on a small scale. Again, the statutory definition of specialty pesticide requires that the site be in, on, or around the home.

• Ornamental: Bushes, trees, and shrubbery that may be associated with home landscaping, not to include office or apartment, or commercial site landscapes.

• Turf: Turf has traditionally been associated with non-residential areas such as schools, playgrounds, sports fields, cemeteries, golf courses, and parks. Scale of size would typically be greater than 10,000 -15,000 square feet of area.