Title 18 . Environmental Conservation

Chapter 90 . Administrative Enforcement

Section 990. Definitions

18 AAC 90.990. Definitions

Unless the context indicates otherwise, in this chapter

(1) "active ingredient" means, in the case of a

(A) pesticide other than a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, an ingredient that will prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate a pest;

(B) plant regulator, an ingredient that, 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 a product of those plants;

(C) defoliant, an ingredient that will cause leaves or foliage to drop from a plant; and

(D) desiccant, an ingredient that will artificially accelerate the drying of plant tissue;

(2) "adjuvant" means a substance

(A) with or without toxic properties of its own, intended to be used with or added to a pesticide as an aid to application, safety, or effect; and

(B) sold in a package or container separate from that of the pesticide with which it is to be used;

(3) "adulterated" means a pesticide

(A) the strength or purity of which falls below the professed standard of quality expressed on the label under which it is sold;

(B) for which a substance has been substituted wholly or in part; or

(C) from which a valuable constituent has been abstracted wholly or in part;

(4) "agricultural commodity" means a plant or part of a plant, livestock, or an animal product that is produced by a farmer, rancher, plant propagator, Christmas tree grower, aquaculturist, floriculturist, orchardist, forester, or similar person and that is produced primarily for sale, consumption, propagation, or other use by humans or animals;

(5) "antimicrobial pesticide" means a pesticide that is intended to

(A) disinfect, sanitize, reduce, or mitigate growth or development of microbiological organisms; or

(B) protect inanimate objects, industrial processes or systems, surfaces, water, or other chemical substances from contamination, fouling, or deterioration caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, algae, or slime;

(6) "apparatus" means a type of ground, water, or aerial equipment, or contrivance using motorized, mechanical, or pressurized power to apply a pesticide; "apparatus" does not include

(A) a pressurized, hand-held household appliance used to apply a pesticide; or

(B) an appliance, equipment, or contrivance if the person who is applying the pesticide is the source of power or energy in applying the pesticide;

(7) "certified applicator" means a person certified under 18 AAC 90.300 - 18 AAC 90.315;

(8) "custom, commercial, or contract applicator" means an applicator who uses or supervises the use of a pesticide on property other than the applicator's, whether or not the use is for profit or hire;

(9) "custom, commercial, or contract use" means to apply, or offer to apply, pesticides on property other than the applicator's, whether or not the use is for profit or hire;

(10) "defoliant" means a substance or mixture of substances intended to cause leaves or foliage to drop from a plant;

(11) "department" means the Department of Environmental Conservation;

(12) "desiccant" means a substance or mixture of substances intended to artificially accelerate the drying of plant tissues;

(13) "device" means an instrument or contrivance intended to trap, destroy, control, repel, or mitigate pests, but does not include equipment used to apply pesticides if that equipment is sold separately from the pesticide;

(14) "direct supervision" means

(A) for a custom, commercial, or contract applicator, direct on-the-job supervision; or

(B) for all other applicators, that the pesticide is applied by a competent person acting under the instructions and control of a certified applicator who is available if and when needed, even though the certified applicator is not physically present when the pesticide is applied;

(15) "distribute or sell" means to distribute, sell, offer for sale, display, hold for distribution, hold for sale, hold for shipment, ship, deliver for shipment, release for shipment, or receive and, having so received, deliver or offer to deliver;

(16) "drift" means the physical airborne movement, at the time and as a result of pesticide use, from the target site to a nontarget site in an amount sufficient to cause injury at the nontarget site, made in a manner inconsistent with product label directions or the requirements of this chapter or from treatment made in a careless, faulty, or negligent manner; "drift" does not include the off-target movement by erosion, volatility, or windblown soil particles after treatment; for purposes of this paragraph, "amount sufficient to cause injury" means an amount of pesticide that could cause

(A) pesticide residue in excess of the established tolerance for the pesticide on an affected agricultural commodity at a nontarget site;

(B) death, stunting, deformation, or another effect that is detrimental to the environment, including humans, domestic animals or wildlife, or desirable plants at the nontarget site; or

(C) movement to a nontarget site of a measurable amount of pesticide that is objectionable to the owner of or resident at the nontarget site;

(17) "EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency;

(18) "FIFRA" means the provisions of 7 U.S.C. 136 - 7 U.S.C. 136y (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act);

(19) "food" means a liquid or solid substance consumed by humans, including water or another beverage, a confection, condiment, food ingredient, food additive, or ice, or a substance that enters into the composition of these things, whether simple, blended, mixed, or compounded;

(20) "forestry vegetation management" means the application of a pesticide for afforestation or reforestation, including conifer release; "forestry vegetation management" does not include the application of a pesticide for control of nonindigenous species or pests that may present a risk to human health or the environment; for purposes of this paragraph,

(A) "afforestation" means the establishment of a forest or a stand in an area where the preceding vegetation or land use was not a forest;

(B) "conifer release" means a project to clear weedy vegetation from the area around young conifer seedlings;

(C) "reforestation" means the natural or artificial restocking of an area with forest trees;

(21) "fungi" or "fungus" means any of the numerous plants of the division or kingdom Thallophyta, lacking chlorophyll, ranging in form from a single cell to a body mass of branched filamentous hyphae that often produce specialized fruiting bodies, and including yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms;

(22) "fungicide" means a substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate fungi, except fungi on or in;

(A) living humans or other animals; or

(B) processed food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals;

(23) "general-use pesticide" means a pesticide classified by EPA to be purchased and used by the general public rather than by certified applicators;

(24) "herbicide" means a substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate vegetation;

(25) "inert ingredient" means any part of a pesticide product that is not an active ingredient;

(26) "insect" means any of the small invertebrate animals generally having a body more or less obviously segmented, for the most part belonging to the class insecta, comprising

(A) six-legged, usually winged forms, including beetles, bugs, bees, and flies; and

(B) other allied classes of arthropods whose members are wingless and usually have more than six legs, including spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice;

(27) "insecticide" means a substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate insects;

(28) "label" means the written, printed, or graphic matter on, or attached to, a pesticide or device, or its containers or wrappers;

(29) "labeling" means the label affixed to a pesticide container and other written, printed, or graphic matter to which reference is made on the label or in literature accompanying the pesticide or device, except current official publications of federal and state government agencies or institutions;

(30) "land" means land and water areas, including airspace above those areas, and everything growing or built on those areas;

(31) "mean higher high water mark" means the average of all the higher high water heights over a specified period of time; for purposes of this paragraph, "higher high water" means the higher of the high water of a specified day;

(32) "misbranded" means a pesticide bearing a label

(A) on which any word, statement, or other information required by or under authority of federal law is not prominently placed or is missing;

(B) that has been obscured, destroyed, or defaced wholly or in part; or

(C) that contains a false or misleading statement, design, or graphic representation about the ingredients or functions of the pesticide;

(33) "ordinary high water mark" means the mark along the bank or shore up to which the presence and action of the tidal or nontidal water are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years, as to leave a natural line impressed on the bank or shore and indicated by erosion, shelving, changes in soil characteristics, destruction of terrestrial vegetation, or other distinctive physical characteristics;

(34) "pass" or "passing" means to receive at least 70 percent of the highest possible grade;

(35) "person" means a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, society, government agency, and an individual;

(36) "pest" includes any insect, rodent, nematode, fungus, weed, and other forms of terrestrial or aquatic plant or animal life, bacterium, virus, or other microorganism, except a virus, bacterium, or other microorganism on or in a living human or other animal;

(37) "pesticide" means a chemical or biological agent intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate plant or animal life and any substance intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, including insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, herbicides, nematocides, and biocides; "pesticide" does not include a new animal drug, as defined in 21 U.S.C. 321, that

(A) has been determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services not to be a new animal drug by a regulation establishing conditions of use; or

(B) is animal feed as defined in 21 U.S.C. 321;

(38) "pesticide-free zone" means a strip of land where pesticides may not be directly applied or allowed to reach through natural transport; for purposes of this paragraph, "natural transport" includes wind, runoff, and leaching;

(39) "pesticide consultant" means a person who is

(A) an independent agricultural commodity adviser who makes recommendations on the use of pesticides; or

(B) a pesticide manufacturer's representative, distributor's representative, or field representative of a company or organization that deals in pesticide commodities, and who advises, demonstrates, supervises, or makes recommendations on the use of a pesticide, except a pesticide labeled and intended only for home and garden use;

(40) "pesticide dealer" means a person who distributes or sells a pesticide;

(41) "plant regulator" means a substance, or mixture of substances intended through physiological action to accelerate or retard the rate of growth or maturation, or to otherwise alter the behavior of plants or produce; "plant regulator" does not include a substance intended for use as a plant nutrient, trace element, nutritional chemical, plant inoculant or soil amendment;

(42) "premises" means land and improvements or attachments, or a part of the improvements or attachments;

(43) "private agricultural applicator" means a certified applicator who applies restricted-use pesticides to

(A) agricultural commodities and property, including greenhouses and nurseries;

(B) the feed, bedding, or bodies of animals; or

(C) treat seeds grown and stored for distribution and planting;

(44) "producer" means the person who manufactures, prepares, compounds, propagates, or processes a pesticide or device, or an active ingredient used to produce a pesticide;

(45) "protective area" means an area of land

(A) between the treatment area and either a pesticide-free zone or another area that requires protection; and

(B) where pesticides are not directly applied but some pesticides may enter through natural transport; for purposes of this subparagraph, "natural transport" includes wind, runoff, and leaching;

(46) "public pesticide program or project" means a program or project involving the use of a pesticide that

(A) is directed, carried out, or participated in by the state or a borough or city of any class; and

(B) involves funds, materials, or equipment of the state, borough, or city;

(47) "rate of application" means the amount of pesticide applied to

(A) a plant or animal;

(B) an area or surface, usually measured as per acre or per 1,000 square feet; or

(C) a volume, usually measured as per cubic foot;

(48) "restricted-use pesticide" means a pesticide that can be purchased only by a certified applicator and that may be used only by a certified applicator or a person under the direct supervision of a certified applicator because it has been designated for restricted use under FIFRA or this chapter;

(49) "rodenticide" means a substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate rodents;

(50) "school" means a facility used for educational instruction from kindergarten through 12th grade; "school" includes associated playgrounds, playing fields, gardens, lawns, or other real property devoted to the functions of the facility; "school" does not include a private home or teacher residential area;

(51) "special local need" means an existing or imminent pest problem within the state for which the department, based upon satisfactory supporting information, has found that an appropriate federally-registered pesticide is not available;

(52) "supplemental labeling" means the written, printed, or graphic material that

(A) is on or attached to, or that accompanies, a pesticide container; and

(B) provides supplemental information for a special local need under 18 AAC 90.230;

(53) "surface water" means any of the following water bodies, the designated uses of which are protected under 18 AAC 70:

(A) a fresh water lake or pond with a surface outlet; for purposes of this subparagraph, "fresh water lake or pond" means a confined fresh water body with perennial water and defined shorelines;

(B) a fresh water spring with a surface outlet; for purposes of this subparagraph, "fresh water spring" means a place where subterranean fresh water naturally flows from a rock or soil upon the land or into a body of surface water; and

(C) a fresh water stream; for purposes of this subparagraph, "fresh water stream" means a perennial flow of fresh water along a defined channel, or an intermittent flow of fresh water along a defined channel that is significant for protection of downstream water quality;

(54) "unreasonable adverse effect" means an unreasonable risk to humans, animals, or the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of the use of a pesticide, as determined by the department;

(55) "waters" has the meaning given that term in AS 46.03.900 ;

(56) "working day" means a day other than Saturday, Sunday, or a state holiday.

History: Eff. 2/15/98, Register 145; am 3/31/2002, Register 161; am 3/31/2002, Register 161; am 11/30/2003, Register 168

Authority: AS 41.17.100

AS 46.03.010

AS 46.03.020

AS 46.03.320

AS 46.03.330

AS 46.03.730

Editor's note: Other definitions applicable to this chapter are found in AS 46.03.900 .

As of Register 162 (July 2002), and as of Register 168 (January 2004) the definitions in 18 AAC 90.990 were reorganized to put them in alphabetical order, regardless of when each of them was adopted.