These data are continuously reviewed
and updated when necessary. Individual and summary data may change
as the data are reviewed and refined. Also, quantities listed within
the individual reports are for product formulations and do not reflect
the amount of pesticide active ingredient(s) applied.
The Department has developed a pesticide sales and use computer data base in conjunction
with Cornell, and compiled the information from reports pursuant to ECL §§ 33-1205
and 33-1207. This data base was used to prepare this annual report summarizing pesticide
sales, quantity of pesticides used, category of applicator and regions of application. The
data summarizes the information received regarding pesticide sales and usage as reported to
the Department by the regulated community. The Department cannot attest to the accuracy of
the information contained in these data summaries. Users of the data are cautioned against
the use of the data to draw specific conclusions regarding pesticide sales and use in New
York State.
Some pesticide data submitted on non-standard forms were entered. On these forms the
required report fields were not located in the same places as on the standard forms. In
many cases the non-standard forms did not include all the required report fields. The data
entry operators were forced to search for data that were either not there, located in a
different section of the form, or even on separate pages altogether. The quality of these
data are not as reliable as the data submitted on the standard forms.
The Law requires the Department to accept data from the regulated community on
handwritten forms. These forms accounted for a significant percentage of the total
number of forms received by the Department. The data on these forms were difficult
for the data entry operators to decipher. The quality of these data are not as reliable
as data submitted on typed or computer-generated forms.
Usage of zip code to define application and sales locations created a number of
problems. Zip codes represent postal delivery locations. Large wilderness areas or
farmland may have few if any delivery points. Since mail is not delivered to these
locations, they are technically not located in a zip code. Determination of what zip
code to report for an application or intended application in one of these locations
was problematic for the businesses and applicators.
Some zip codes represent more than one contiguous location. Without more accurate
address data than is currently collected, there is no way to divide application or
intended application quantities between the separate locations represented by these
zip codes.
Data reported for selected zip codes have not been reported under that zip code.
These selected zip codes are unique to a location and could be used to identify where
an application or intended application occurred. Identification of the specific location
of a pesticide application is not allowed by the Pesticide Reporting Law. In these
instances, if the zip code was located entirely within a single enclosing zip code, the
data were reported under that enclosing zip code. Otherwise the data for these zip codes
have been reported under the "Private" category.
Quantities for some pesticides were reported using both weight and volume-based units
of measure. The validation data to determine which type of measurement unit should be used
to report that particular pesticide are not currently available in a form applicable to the
reported pesticide data. Therefore, the reports list both measurements, as it was reported
to the Department.
Products with a quantity of zero reflect that applications or intended applications of
the product were made, but that the quantity was illegible, missing, or irregular on the
report form. Efforts will be made to obtain this information as the Department and Cornell
continue with data quality assurance methods.
In order to show that a trace quantity of a product was applied, negligible quantities
(< 0.01) have been reported as 0.01 rather than 0.00.
A reported value of "Irregular" usually refers to source pesticide reports where
two values were submitted for a single field. "Invalid" refers to an EPA Registration
Number that did not match those EPA Registration Numbers for pesticide products registered
in New York State for a particular reporting year.
