Texas Administrative Code › Title 4 - AGRICULTURE › Part 1 - TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE › Chapter 3 - BOLL WEEVIL ERADICATION PROGRAM › Subchapter B - ESTABLISHMENT OF RULES, PROCEDURES, AND METHODS OF TREATMENT › Section 3.24 - Guidelines for Establishment of Foundation Rules, Procedures, and Methods of Treatment

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12,
				  2024
(a) The foundation
				  shall establish procedures for determining when boll weevil population levels
				  have reached economic significance. The foundation will estimate boll weevil
				  populations using generally accepted entomological methods, including, but not
				  limited to, pheromone traps and, when necessary, estimate weevil damage by
				  examining the fruiting forms of cotton; and establish thresholds to determine
				  when treatments are necessary. This will be done for each eradication zone and
				  will encompass both the eradication phase as well as post-eradication. The
				  foundation shall establish criteria to declare when eradication is
				  complete.
(b) The foundation shall
				  establish a treatment regimen that seeks to provide the least possible risk to
				  human health and the environment. The treatment regimen must consider all
				  cultural controls; and, when the treatment regime must consider the use of
				  pesticides, such pesticides must be considered on the basis of low toxicity and
				  the least potential for environmental hazards. To achieve these objectives, the
				  treatment regimen shall require, include, or incorporate the following:
(1) provisions mandating maximum compliance
				  with stalk destruction requirements, and considering other appropriate cultural
				  controls;
(2) development of
				  emergency response plans to minimize the health and environmental threat posed
				  by accidental pesticide contamination;
(3) selection of pesticides and other
				  cultural controls or other methods based on the severity of boll weevil
				  infestation, location of eradication zones, climatic conditions, and other
				  factors that may contribute to the efficacy of the treatment;
(4) specification of the duration,
				  application rate and frequency, type of application, and total amount of the
				  active ingredient used, taking into consideration cost per acre;
(5) evaluation and selection of pesticides
				  considering their acute and chronic toxicity, reproductive and developmental
				  effects, acute and delayed neurotoxicological potential, and carcinogenic and
				  other possible toxicological endpoints;
(6) consideration of possible risks to
				  workers, mixers, loaders, and applicators to ensure that occupational exposure
				  to the pesticides does not cause adverse health effects;
(7) assurance that adequate safety and
				  protection are provided to workers consistent with state and federal worker
				  protection standards by adhering to the precautionary statements and the
				  reentry intervals, personal protective equipment, and other requirements of
				  law, and where state and federal standards differ, by adhering to the more
				  stringent requirement;
(8) methods
				  for informing the public of possible health risks that could result from
				  exposure to the pesticides used;
(9) working in cooperation with the United
				  States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and
				  the department, consideration of the impact of pesticides' use on endangered,
				  threatened, and nontarget organisms (plants, aquatic, and wildlife) and their
				  habitats and assurance that precautionary and remedial measures are considered
				  to mitigate the exposure; and
(10)
				  cooperation with all agencies concerned including the United States
				  Environmental Protection Agency, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the
				  Texas Department of Agriculture, and the Texas Commission on Environmental
				  Quality, to furnish collected data and assist in further study of the fate,
				  mobility, and persistence of pesticides and their metabolites in soil, water,
				  and air, and assistance in establishing the strategies for their safe use and
				  disposal.