MSMA applications labeled for use on golf courses, sod farms and highway rights of way will be extended for at least three years, until a scientific review is complete, according to the Organic Arsenical Products Task Force (OAPTF). The news was affirmed in a letter sent last month from Rick Keigwin, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Presticide Reevaluation Division to OAPTF.
In 2009, the sale of MSMA for turf was extended by the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Products to the end of 2012 with the use of stocks permitted to the end of 2013.
The decision doesn’t change the cancellation of MSMA use on residential lawns, points out Tom Delaney, director of government affairs for the Professionals Landcare Network. It’s still good news for some in the lawn care industry, he says, noting some lawn care operators treat highway rights of way.
