Iowa Pesticide Applicator Exam Questions With Correct Answers

Intro: Types of pesticide applicators in Iowa - Answer Commercial Applicators (another person for compensation); Public Applicators (as employee govt agencies); Noncommercial Applicators (property owned, rented, or leased by the applicator or the applicator's employer); Private Applicators (agricultural); Certified Handlers (preparing, mixing, or loading pesticides) Intro: Describe certification & recertification requirements - Answer Certification: Employed by a certified, licensed company; fee paid to IDALS; 21-day grace period (direct supervision); closed-book exam. Recertification: 3-year qualification cycle; renewable by either testing every third year or attending approved continuing instruction courses (CIC); core & categories; fee & you get a form. C1: What agency regulates pesticide use in US - Answer U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) C1: Summarize pesticide registration & re-registration - Answer FIFRA requires the EPA to regulate the sale & use & they do this through registration & labeling of pesticide products; human health & the environment. Re-registration FIFRA requires EPA to conduct comprehensive reviews of older pesticides human health & environmental effects C1: Understand the penalties for violations of FIFRA - Answer Violations of the legal provisions established in FIFRA civil penalties as much as $6,500 for each offense; violation of the law also may subject you to criminal penalties up to $25,000 or one year in prison, or both. C1: FIFRA - Answer Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (1947) regulates the production, transportation, sale, use, & disposal of all pesticides C1: FFDCA - Answer Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act sets allowable residue levels to ensure the safety of the food supply C1: FQPA - Answer Food Quality Protection Act amended both FIFRA & FFDCA & set a tougher standard for pesticides on food. C1: Residues & Tolerances - Answer Residues: Small amounts of pesticides on fruits, vegetables, grains, other foods, & animal feeds. Tolerances: the EPA sets allowable residue levels under FFDCA regs, safe tolerances "a reasonable certainty of no harm". C1: How does the ESA relate to pesticides - Answer The Endangered Species Act (ESA): Pesticides use may directly or indirectly, through drift and runoff, affect endangered or threatened species & their habitat. C1: Summarize RCRA - Answer Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the "cradle-to-grave", rinsates & hazardous waste; become solid wastes when you want to discard. C1: Who is protected by the WPS - Answer Worker Protection Standard (WPS) helps protect employees on farms, forests, nurseries, & greenhouses from occupational exposure. C2: List the requirements of pesticide applicator records - Answer 1) Name & certification number of licensee; 2) Name & address of landowner or customer; 3) Address of the place of application of pesticide; 4) Date of application; 5) Trade name of pesticide; 6) Quantity of pesticide used & the concentration or rate of application; 7) Temperature and direction & velocity of wind; 8) the use of "restricted use" pesticides; 9) Time pesticide application begins & ends. C2: Describe the Sensitive Crops Directory - Answer It is an online registry to identify locations of pesticide-sensitive crops & apiaries (bee yards): vineyards, orchards, certified organic crops, and fruit & vegetable crops. Susceptible to drift & meet minimum acreage requirements. C2: Iowa Bee Rule - Answer Owners of apiaries shall register location (expires Dec 31); shall not apply a pesticide labeled as toxic to bees within 1 mile of apiaries between 8 am & 6 pm (registered on 1st day of month) C2: List the notification requirements for urban pesticide applications - Answer Notification: must post signs at the start of application; display signs for at least 24 hrs after the application (longer if label requires); does not apply to pesticides applied within a structure or within 6 ft of the outside perimeter of a structure, nor to the homeowner or tenant. Also, prenotification, durable signs, remove, provide label C2: Summarize the Iowa atrazine management rules - Answer Atrazine is a restricted use pesticide due to ground & surface water concerns. Atrazine application rates are limited to 2.5 lbs per acre per calendar year; restricts rates to 1.5 lbs in 23 counties (7 county -wide 16 in some townships); may not be mixed, loaded, or repackaged within 50 feet of a sinkhole, well, cistern, lake, water impoundment, this includes, but is not limited to, abandoned wells, agricultural drainage wells & drainage well surface inlets, & drinking water wells; atrazine mixing, loading, & equipment cleanout must meet the secondary containment requirements in the Iowa administrative code. C2: Recognize the requirements of on-site containment of pesticides - Answer All non-mobile bulk pesticide storage containers must be located within a watertight secondary containment facility, a structure used to prevent runoff or leaching of pesticide materials. If you store for more than 30 days & mix more than 300 gal and/or 300 lbs, your facility is considered a permanent storage & mixing site. Paved & sloped & elevated, curbed; engineer's design, plans IDALS; rainwater, cracks; washing, rinsates. C2: Penalties for violations of the Pesticide Act of Iowa - Answer If you violate any provisions of Pesticide Act of Iowa (PAI), max civil penalty must not exceed $500 per violation; C3: What constitutes a pest - Answer A pest is any living species whose activities cause economic losses to your possessions, directly threaten your health, or are annoying. C3: Define "integrated pest management" (IPM) - Answer Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an approach to controlling a specific pest in a specific setting that makes use of current pest information, regular monitoring, & recordkeeping to determine if & when action against the pest is needed. IPM uses a combination of control strategies (biological, mechanical, cultural, physical, genetic, regulatory, & chemical) to prevent unacceptable damage or annoyance. The control options used should be the most effective with the least risk to people & the environment, yet provide viable options to produce a quality, economical, & safe crop or maintain a clean, healthy indoor or outdoor setting. C3: List five major components of "integrated pest management" - Answer 1) Identify the pest & understand its biology, 2) Set up a monitoring program, 3) Know the available control strategies, 4) Implement an IPM program, & 5) Record & evaluate results. C3: Describe the concepts of economic & action threshold levels - Answer The economic threshold level is the pest population density (number of pests per unit area) at which control measures are needed to prevent the pest from reaching the economic injury level; primarily in agricultural & ornamental pest control. An action threshold is the pest level at which some type of pest management action should be taken; more appropriate if you are not directly involved in production. It is a predetermined pest level that is considered to be unacceptable. C3: List several possible control tactics that may be used in an IPM strategy - Answer 1) Biological, 2) mechanical, 3) cultural, 4) physical, 5) genetic, 6) regulatory, & 7) chemical strategies.