2023 Florida Statutes › Title XXXII - Regulation of Professions and Occupations › Chapter 487 - Pesticide Regulation and Safety › Part I - Florida Pesticide Law (Ss. 487.011-487.175) › 487.021 - Definitions.

487.021 Definitions.—For the purpose of this part:
(1) “Acceptable release rate” means a measured release rate not exceeding 4.0 micrograms per square centimeter per day at steady state conditions as determined in accordance with a United States Environmental Protection Agency testing data call-in notice of July 29, 1986, on tributyltin in antifouling paints under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, 7 U.S.C. s. 136, or at a rate established by the department.
(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, nematodes, 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 the produce thereof.
(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) “Added ingredient” means any plant nutrient or plant regulator added to the mixture which is not an active pesticidal ingredient, but which the manufacturer wishes to show on the label.
(4) “Adulterated” applies to any pesticide if its strength or purity falls below or is in excess of the professed standard of quality as expressed on labeling or under which it is sold, if any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the pesticide or if any valuable constituent of the pesticide has been wholly or in part abstracted.
(5) “Advertisement” means all representations disseminated in any manner or by any means other than by labeling, for the purpose of inducing, or which are likely to induce, directly or indirectly, the purchase of pesticides.
(6) “Age of majority” means any natural person 18 years of age or older, or an emancipated minor.
(7) “Aircraft” means any machine designed for flight and for use in applying pesticides.
(8) “Animal” means all vertebrate and invertebrate species, including, but not limited to, humans and other mammals, birds, fish, and shellfish.
(9) “Antidote” means the most practical immediate treatment for poisoning and includes first aid treatment.
(10) “Antifouling paint” means a coating, paint, or treatment that is intended for use as a pesticide, as defined in this section, to control freshwater or marine fouling organisms.
(11) “Antisiphon device” means a safety device used to prevent the backflow of a mixture of water and chemicals into the water supply.
(12) “Batch” or “lot” means a quantity of pesticide produced or packaged and readily identified by numbers, letters, or other symbols.
(13) “Brand” means the name, number, trademark, or any other designation which distinguishes one pesticide product from another.
(14) “Certification” means the recognition by the department that an individual is a competent pesticide applicator and, thus, is eligible for licensure in one or more of the designated license types and categories.
(15) “Certified applicator” means any individual who has been recognized by the department as a competent pesticide applicator and, thus, is eligible to apply for licensure in one or more of the designated license types and categories.
(16) “Commercial applicator” means an individual who has reached the age of majority and is licensed by the department to use or supervise the use of any restricted-use pesticide for any purpose on any property other than as provided by the definitions of “private applicator,” “product specific applicator,” or “public applicator,” whether or not the individual is a private applicator with respect to some uses.
(17) “Dealer” means any person, other than the manufacturer or distributor, who offers for sale, sells, barters, or otherwise supplies pesticides to the ultimate user or consumer.
(18) “Deficiency” means the amount of an active ingredient of a pesticide by which it fails to come up to its guaranteed analysis when analyzed.
(19) “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.
(20) “Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or its authorized representative.
(21) “Desiccant” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for artificially accelerating the drying of plant tissues.
(22) “Device” means any instrument or contrivance (other than a firearm) which is intended for trapping, destroying, repelling, or mitigating, any pest or other form of plant or animal life (other than human and other than bacteria, virus, or other microorganism on or in living humans or other living animals); but not including equipment used for the application of pesticides when sold separately.
(23) “Distribute” means to offer for sale, hold for sale, sell, barter, or supply pesticides in this state.
(24) “Distributor” means any person who offers for sale, holds for sale, sells, barters, or supplies pesticides in this state.
(25) “Emergency exemption” means an exemption as authorized in s. 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
(26) “Environment” means all water, air, land, plants, and animals, and their relationships with one another.
(27) “Equipment” means any type of ground, aquatic, or aerial device used to apply any pesticide on land, and on anything that may be growing, habituating, or stored on or in the land. Equipment does not include any pressurized hand-size household device used to apply any pesticide, or any other device where the person applying the pesticide is the source of power for applying the pesticide.
(28) “Excess” means the amount of an active ingredient of a pesticide found by analysis to be over the guaranteed amount.
(29) “Experimental use permit” means a permit issued by the department or by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as authorized in s. 5 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
(30) “Fungi” means all non-chlorophyll-bearing thallophytes (that is, all non-chlorophyll-bearing plants of a lower order than mosses and liverworts), as, for example, rusts, smuts, mildews, molds, yeasts, and bacteria, except those on or in living humans or other animals.
(31) “Highly toxic” means any highly poisonous pesticide as determined by the rules promulgated pursuant to this part.
(32) “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.
(33) “Ineffective” means that pesticides such as bacteriostats, disinfectants, germicides, sanitizers, and like products fail to meet microbiological claims when tested in the laboratory utilizing the officially approved procedures of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists or other methods or procedures as the department may find necessary.
(34) “Inert ingredient” means an ingredient which is not an active ingredient.
(35) “Ingredient statement” means a statement of the name and percentage by weight of each active ingredient, together with the total percentage of the inert ingredients in the pesticides.
(36) “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 legs, usually in winged form (as, for example, beetles, bugs, bees, and flies) and to other allied classes and arthropods whose members are wingless and usually have more than six legs (as, for example, spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice).
(37) “Irrigation system” means any device or combination of devices having a hose, pipe, or other conduit which connects directly to any source of ground or surface water, through which device or combination of devices water or a mixture of water and chemicals is drawn and applied for agricultural purposes. The term does not include any handheld hose sprayer or other similar device which is constructed so that an interruption in water flow automatically prevents any backflow to the water source.
(38) “Label” means the written, printed, or graphic matter on or attached to a pesticide, device, or immediate and outside container or wrappers of such pesticide or device.
(39) “Labeling” means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter referencing the pesticide or device or upon any of its containers or wrappers, or accompanying the pesticide or device at any time, but does not include accurate, nonmisleading reference to current official publications of the United States Departments of Agriculture or Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Public Health Service, state experiment stations, state agricultural colleges, or other similar federal institutions or official agencies of this state or other states authorized by law to conduct research in the field of pesticides.
(40) “Land” means all land and water areas, including airspace.
(41) “Licensed applicator” means an individual who has reached the age of majority and is authorized by license from the department to use or supervise the use of any restricted-use pesticide covered by the license.
(42) “Manufacturer” means a person engaged in the business of importing, producing, preparing, mixing, formulating, or reformulating pesticides for the purpose of distribution.
(43) “Mixer-loader” means any individual who handles open containers or otherwise prepares, processes, or dilutes pesticides in preparation for final application.
(44) “Nematode” means invertebrate animals of the phylum Nemathelminthes and class Nematoda (that is, unsegmented round worms with elongated, fusiform, or saclike bodies covered with cuticle and inhabiting soil, water, plants, or plant parts), and may also be known as nemas or eelworms.
(45) “Official sample” means any sample of a pesticide taken by the department in accordance with the provisions of this part or rules adopted under this part, and designated as official by the department.
(46) “Organotin compound” means any compound of tin used as a biocide in an antifouling paint.
(47) “Percent” means one one-hundredth part by weight or volume.
(48) “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 microorganism, except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms on or in living humans or other living animals, which is declared to be a pest by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency or which may be declared to be a pest by the department by rule.
(49) “Pesticide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects, rodents, nematodes, fungi, weeds, or other forms of plant or animal life or viruses, except viruses, bacteria, or fungi on or in living humans or other animals, which the department by rule declares to be a pest, and any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant; however, the term “pesticide” does not include any article that:
(a) Is a “new animal drug” within the meaning of s. 201(w) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;
(b) Has been determined by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services not to be a new animal drug by a regulation establishing conditions of use for the article; or
(c) Is an animal feed within the meaning of s. 201(x) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act bearing or containing an article covered in this subsection.
(50) “Plant nutrient” means any ingredient that furnishes nourishment to the plant or promotes its growth in a normal manner.
(51) “Plant regulator” means any substance or mixture of substances intended, through physiological action, for accelerating or retarding the rate of growth or maturation, or for otherwise altering the behavior, of ornamental or crop plants or the produce thereof; but does not include substances intended as plant nutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants, or soil amendments.
(52) “Private applicator” means an individual who has reached the age of majority and is licensed by the department to use or supervise the use of any restricted-use pesticide for purposes of producing any agricultural commodity on property owned or rented by his or her employer, or, if applied without compensation other than the trading of personal services between producers of agricultural commodities, on the property of another person.
(53) “Product” means a unique pesticide and label as distinguished by its individually assigned United States Environmental Protection Agency registration number, special local need registration number, or experimental use permit number.
(54) “Protect health and the environment” means protection against any unreasonable adverse effects on people or the environment.
(55) “Public applicator” means an individual who has reached the age of majority and is licensed by the department to use or supervise the use of restricted-use pesticides as an employee of a state agency, municipal corporation, or other governmental agency.
(56) “Product specific applicator” means an individual who has reached the age of majority and is licensed by the department to use or supervise the use of a particular restricted-use pesticide product that is identified on the license by the United States Environmental Protection Agency registration number, as well as any Florida special local need registration number and any specific identifying information as deemed appropriate for nonfederally registered products exempt under s. 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, provided that the restricted-use pesticide product is used for the purpose of producing agricultural commodities on property owned or rented by the licensee or the licensee’s employer, or is applied on the property of another person without compensation other than trading of personal services between producers of agricultural commodities.
(57) “Registrant” means the person registering any pesticide pursuant to the provisions of this part.
(58) “Restricted-use pesticide” means a pesticide which, when applied in accordance with its directions for use, warnings, and cautions and for uses for which it is registered or for one or more such uses, or in accordance with a widespread and commonly recognized practice, may generally cause, without additional regulatory restrictions, unreasonable adverse effects on the environment, or injury to the applicator or other persons, and which has been classified as a restricted-use pesticide by the department or the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(59) “Sell or sale” includes exchanges.
(60) “Special local need registration” means a state registration issued by the department as authorized in s. 24(c) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
(61) “Special review” is a process for reviewing selected pesticides based upon information that the pesticides have been found to present environmental or health concerns not considered in the registration process or that data submitted in support of registration are inadequate or outdated.
(62) “Tolerance” means the deviation from the guaranteed analysis permitted by law.
(63) “Transportation of pesticides in bulk” means the movement of a pesticide which is held in an individual container in undivided quantities of greater than 55 U.S. gallons liquid measure or 100 pounds net dry weight.
(64) “Under the direct supervision of a licensed applicator” means, unless otherwise prescribed by its labeling, a pesticide that must be applied by a competent person acting under the instruction and control of a licensed applicator who is available if and when needed, even though the licensed applicator is not physically present when the pesticide is applied.
(65) “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.
(66) “Vessel” means any type of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.
(67) “Weed” means any plant which grows where not wanted.
History.—s. 1, ch. 65-457; ss. 14, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 69-376; s. 1, ch. 70-52; s. 178, ch. 71-377; s. 1, ch. 73-63; s. 1, ch. 79-210; s. 1, ch. 82-106; s. 1, ch. 82-167; s. 15, ch. 84-338; s. 1, ch. 88-304; ss. 3, 37, ch. 92-115; s. 4, ch. 94-233; s. 474, ch. 97-103; s. 10, ch. 2000-154; s. 23, ch. 2004-64.