On January 8, 2018, CPDA sent a letter to Jeff Herndon, Acting Director of EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, with recommendations for how the Agency’s Drift Reduction Technology (DRT) program testing protocol could be made more workable to increase industry participation in the program. The letter is a follow-up to a meeting of members of the Council’s DRT work group with EPA staff on November 16, 2017.
CPDA emphasized that modifying the current DRT test protocol to allow use of an appropriate surrogate for adjuvant testing would remove a significant barrier that has obstructed growth of the program. CPDA explained that instead of testing an adjuvant with each pesticide formulation and each nozzle, a protocol that would allow for the use of a surrogate in place of a pesticide formulation would provide one verified product to test. In so doing, companies seeking a star rating under the DRT program would no longer need to test every active ingredient with every nozzle for each adjuvant – a very costly and burdensome endeavor that has deterred participation in the program.
CPDA also pointed out the need for guidance to address the type of star rating language that should be added to a label. CPDA emphasized that unless such ratings appear widely on pesticide labels, the program provides no benefit to customers looking to select verified DRT rated products.
CPDA will continue to work with the Agency and provide specific input aimed at making the DRT program more widely accepted throughout the agrotechnology industry. To read the CPDA January 8th letter to EPA please click here.
