Tuesday, 22 July 2014
45-day consultation for pesticide derogation applications in the US
© The Collins CompaniesJuly 22, 2014
FSC’s forest management standard restricts the use of highly hazardous chemicals in FSC certified forests. However, in rare instances, FSC acknowledges situations where a compound on the restricted list is the only tool available to the forest manager and its controlled use may be preferable to alternatives. In these situations, forest management certificate holders may apply for a derogation to use a specific chemical under certain conditions in their certified forest operations.
The derogation application must include justification from the forest manager for multiple considerations, including:
- Description of the demonstrated need
- Controls to mitigate hazards
- Program to identify alternatives
- Stakeholder engagement
FSC US has recently received derogation applications from US-based forest managers for five highly hazardous chemicals and is now seeking stakeholder comments on those applications. The requests involve proposed use of the following compounds:
- Hexazinone
- 2,4-D,2-ethylhexyl ester
- Permethrin
- Diflubenzuron
- Atrazine
All stakeholders are encouraged to submit comments on these derogation applications. Comments should be sent to Lori Knosalla at FSC US (l.knosalla@us.fsc.org).
This is a 45-day comment period and all comments are due by September 8th, 2014.
Stakeholders should use the comment form provided in the link below and should provide comments on each chemical independently. Stakeholders are encouraged to include comments on the overall support for the derogation requests, as well as include comments on the sections related to additional controls and programs to identify alternatives. For joint applications (Hexazinone and 2,4-D) stakeholders should feel free to comment on the overall support, as well as on company specific certificate holder applications.
Comments will be used by: 1) forest managers, to review and potentially revise their chemical use plans and derogation applications, 2) FSC US, to ensure an accurate understanding of the perspectives of stakeholders, and 3) FSC International, in consideration of the derogation applications.
Downloads:
FSC US Stakeholder Comment Form
2,4-D, 2-ethylhexyl ester Derogation Application
Hexazinone Derogation Application
Permethrin Derogation Application
Diflubenzuron Derogation Application
Atrazine Derogation Application