Although this mostly applies to home and garden use, it will also affect about one dozen vegetable crops. Diazinon is to be phased out in about four years. Last year rice growers were issued a temporary need registration which allowed them to use existing stocks of the organophosphate during the growing season. This year, however, they are left looking for alternatives. Frank Zalom, director of the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, believes the big issue with pesticides is trying to make sure new products being registered are really going to be safer for the environment than the products being eliminated.
Pesticides are no different than medicine or drugs.
Make it easier for growers to comply. I think it s important to have a regulatory process in place to ensure worker safety for the general public and the workers themselves. The report states these fluctuations can be attributed to changes in planted acreage, pest pressures and weather conditions.