2001 PNN Annual Report
Background
The enabling legislation that created the Washington State Commission on Pesticide Registration (WSCPR), also directed the WSCPR to provide a program for tracking the availability of effective pesticides for minor crop and emergency uses in Washington (HB 1009: July 23,1995). This mandate resulted in the creation of the Pesticide Notification Network (PNN), which is operated for the WSCPR by WSU’s Pesticide Information Center (PIC). The PNN began operation in early 1997.
The purpose of the PNN is to inform Washington State pesticide users of registration and label changes for products of interest to agriculture. The system does this by distributing information to various commodity commissions and grower groups representing Washington State’s diverse agriculture. These groups comprise a network of contacts that have agreed to pass along information to the pesticide users they represent. The PNN also distributes information to Washington State University Cooperative Extension personnel. The system currently distributes information to a total of 163 contacts across the state.
One goal of the PNN is to get the right information to the right people. This is done by sending each PNN notification to a targeted distribution list. When people sign up for PNN service, they customize their "subscription" both by crop and by the pesticide types of interest. In this manner, a WSU entomologist conducting research on tree fruit will receive only information about insecticides registered for use on tree fruits while the Washington Blueberry Commission receives notifications relating to all pesticide (herbicide, insecticide, fungicide) use on blueberries.
In addition to actively distributing information via e-mail and fax, the PNN provides information via a Web page found at URL: http://www.pnn.wsu.edu.
PNN Activities
In CY 2001, the PNN distributed 355 notifications via 12328 individual transmittals. "Notification" refers to a message, while "transmittal" refers to a single piece of correspondence (e-mail messages, faxes, and notifications mailed through the US mail). One notification is distributed via many transmittals. The table below summarizes the activity of the PNN from its inception in 1997 through 2001. While the number of notifications sent on the PNN roughly equaled that sent in 2000, the number of transmittals rose by almost 1000, indicating an increased distribution. The average distribution of a single PNN notification has more than doubled from a low of 16 in 1998 to 35 in 2001.
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PNN Activity |
|||
|
Year |
# Notifications |
# Transmittals |
# Trans/Notification |
|
1997 |
424 |
8753 |
21 |
|
1998 |
279 |
4446 |
16 |
|
1999 |
355 |
8537 |
24 |
|
2000 |
344 |
11335 |
33 |
|
2001 |
355 |
12328 |
35 |
PNN Odds & Ends
In 2001, two PNN special projects were completed. First, early in the year, a list of all state restricted use pesticides was compiled and posted on the PNN Web page. The list includes product name, ingredient, EPA number, SLN number, and registrant name, and can be sorted in four ways. PNN staff plans to update this list after the 2001 registration materials have been entered into the PICOL Label Database. (The PICOL label database is another resource maintained by PIC. Its URL is:
http://picol.cahe.wsu.edu.)Late in 2001 PNN subscribers were polled for their opinion regarding PNN services. The PNN received very good marks from its subscribers. The results of this survey are available in the January issue of the Agrichemical and Environmental News and can be reviewed at the following URL:
http://www.aenews.wsu.edu/Jan02AENews/Jan02AENews.htm#PNNSurveyArticle.As in the past the PNN distributed several "special topic" notifications in 2001. These types of notifications cover issues outside the registration, labeling, and federal regulatory information that is normally provided on the PNN. Where applicable, these notifications also include electronic citations or contact information for those wishing more in-depth information. Special topic PNN notifications distributed in 2001 included:
Additional PNN-Related Activities
Our office continues to review and summarize agriculture-related pesticide information that is published in the Federal Register for distribution on the PNN. Through early 2001, tolerance information and other pesticide-related information was summarized and posted in the electronic version of the Agrichemical & Environmental News (www.aenews.wsu.edu). Due to increased workload the practice of summarizing this information for the newsletter was discontinued in March.