Choosing the right pesticide can be as frustrating as the pests they are intended to control. An Internet resource maintained by Purdue University hopes to lower the stress level of those making pesticide decisions.
"Purdue maintains a database to make the chore of selecting the appropriate pesticide a more manageable task," says Victoria Cassens, systems analyst for the Center for Environmental Regulatory Information Systems at Purdue.
The National Pesticide Information Retrieval System database at ppis.ceris.purdue.edu contains information about registered pesticides at the state and federal levels. The Web site is free to access.
The NPIRS federal database includes the Office of Pesticide Programs' registered and canceled pesticide products, chemical ingredients, company information and a label system if the product registration number is known.
The state database is searchable by active ingredient, site of application, pest to be controlled, Environmental Protection Agency registration number, product name and company name. Multiple criteria can be entered through a series of steps to narrow the products listed.
Registered states include Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia. Product information for the states is continuously updated.