Pest management activity and pesticide use reporting system (PUR)
Economically and environmentally sustainable pest management requires an integrated approach. Pesticides are one of many tools used in integrated pest management. Judicious use of pesticides demands practical knowledge of their fate and effects in urban and agricultural settings, and natural ecosystems. A better understanding of initial distribution and redistribution via processes such as airborne loss, run-off and leaching is necessary to characterize both human occupational and non-occupational exposure and assess risks to biota in surrounding ecosystems. Detailed and accurate information on pesticide use practices can provide information appropriate for risk assessment. The quality and ultimate utility of data should determine what data comes to be controlled.
We are currently developing an IPM-Pesticide Use Reporting System (SCC IPM-PURS), a central databank of pesticide-use information (non-production agriculture and structural) to facilitate analytical reporting by applicators, department's goals on pesticide-use reduction, as well as meeting all legal and administrative reporting requirements.
Information such as the amount and identity of pesticides applied at a location on a certain date can be enormously useful, both in the protection of human and environmental health by providing better risk assessments, and by illuminating pest management practices that are particularly problematic, so they may be targeted for development of alternatives.
This system will enable the departments to monitor pesticide use by each application, site, location, purpose, associated cost thus allowing analytical and strategic shift from chemical to non-chemical pest management.