§ 911. Definitions

As used in this chapter:

(1) “Active ingredient” means:

(A) in the case of an economic poison other than a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, any ingredient that will prevent, destroy, or repel insects, nematodes, fungi, rodents, weeds, or other pests;

(B) in the case of plant regulators, any ingredient that will accelerate or retard the rate of growth or rate of maturation or otherwise alter the behavior of plants or the produce thereof;

(C) in the case of a defoliant, any ingredient that will cause the foliage to drop from a plant; or

(D) in the case of a desiccant, any ingredient that will artificially accelerate the drying of plant tissue.

(2) “Adulterated” shall apply to any economic poison if its strength or purity falls below the professed standard or quality as expressed on labeling or under which it is sold, or if any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the article, or if any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.

(3) “Antidote” means the most practical immediate treatment in case of poisoning and includes first aid treatment.

(4) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets.

(5) “Economic poison” means:

(A) any substance produced, distributed, or used for preventing, destroying, or repelling any insects, rodents, nematodes, fungi, weeds, or other forms of plant or animal life or viruses, except viruses on or in living humans or other animals, that the Secretary shall declare to be a pest; or

(B) any substance produced, distributed, or used as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.

(6) “Fungi” means all nonchlorophyll-bearing thallophytes (that is, all nonchlorophyll-bearing plants of a lower order than mosses and liverworts) as, for example, rusts, smuts, mildews, molds, yeast, and bacteria, except those on or in living humans or other animals.

(7) “Fungicide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any fungi.

(8) “Herbicide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any weed.

(9) “Inert ingredient” means an ingredient that is not an active ingredient.

(10) “Ingredient statement” means:

(A) A statement of the name and percentage of each active ingredient, together with the total percentage of the inert ingredients, in the economic poison.

(B) A statement of the name of each active ingredient, together with the name of each and total percentage of the inert ingredients, if any there be, in the economic poison. However, if the preparation is highly toxic to humans (determined as provided in section 913 of this title), subdivision (A) of this subdivision (10) shall apply.

(C) A statement of the percentages of total and water soluble arsenic, each calculated as elemental arsenic, to be made in addition to the statement required by subdivision (A) or (B) of this subdivision (10), in case the economic poison contains arsenic.

(11) “Insect” means any of the numerous small invertebrate animals generally having the body more or less obviously segmented, for the most part belonging to the class Insecta, comprising six-legged, usually winged forms, as, for example, beetles, bugs, bees, flies, and to other allied classes of arthropods whose members are wingless and usually have more than six legs, as, for example, spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice.

(12) “Insecticide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects that may be present in any environment whatsoever.

(13) “Label” means the written, printed, or graphic matter on, or attached to, the economic poison, or the immediate container thereof, and the outside container or wrapper of the retail package, if any there be, of the economic poison.

(14) “Labeling” means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter:

(A) upon the economic poison or any of its containers or wrappers;

(B) accompanying the economic poison at any time; or

(C) to which reference is made on the label or in literature accompanying the economic poison, except when accurate, nonmisleading reference is made to current official publications of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or of the Interior, the U.S. Public Health Service, state experiment stations, state agricultural colleges, or other similar federal institutions or official agencies of this State or other states authorized by law to conduct research in the field of economic poisons.

(15) “Misbranded” shall apply:

(A) To any economic poison if its labeling bears any statement, design, or graphic representation relative thereto or to its ingredients that is false or misleading in any particular.

(B) To any economic poison:

(i) if it is an imitation of or is offered for sale under the name of another economic poison;

(ii) if its labeling does not bear a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registration number or a valid registration number issued by the Secretary under this chapter;

(iii) if the labeling accompanying it does not contain instructions for use that are necessary and, if complied with, adequate for the protection of the public;

(iv) if the label does not contain a warning or caution statement that may be necessary and, if complied with, adequate to prevent injury to living humans and the total environment;

(v) if the label does not bear an ingredient statement on that part of the immediate container and on the outside container or wrapper, if there be one, through which the ingredient statements on the immediate container cannot be clearly read, of the retail package that is presented or displayed under the customary conditions of purchase;

(vi) if any word, statement, or other information required by or under the authority of this chapter to appear on the labeling is not prominently placed thereon with such conspicuousness (as compared with other words, statements, designs, or graphic matter in the labeling) and in such terms as to render it likely to be read and understood by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use;

(vii) if in the case of an insecticide, nematocide, fungicide, or herbicide, when used as directed or in accordance with commonly recognized practice, it shall be injurious to living humans or other vertebrate animals or vegetation, except weeds, to which it is applied; or

(viii) if in the case of a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, when used as directed, it shall be injurious to living humans or other vertebrate animals or vegetation to which it is applied. Provided, that physical or physiological effects on plants or parts thereof shall not be considered to be injurious when this is the purpose for which the plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant was applied, in accordance with the label claims and recommendations.

(16) “Person” means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or organized group of persons whether incorporated or not.

(17) “Registrant” means the person registering any economic poison pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

(18) “Rodenticide” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating rodents or any other vertebrate animal that the Secretary shall declare to be a pest.

(19) “Weed” means any plant that grows where not wanted.

(20) “Nematocide” means any substance produced, distributed, or used for preventing, destroying, or repelling nematodes.

(21) “Plant regulator” means any substance produced, distributed, or used for the purposes of accelerating or retarding the rate of growth or rate of maturation, or otherwise altering the behavior of plants but shall not include substances produced, distributed, or used for plant nutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants, and soil amendments.

(22) “Defoliant” means any substance produced, distributed, or used for causing the foliage to drop from a plant, with or without causing abscission.

(23) “Desiccant” means any substance produced, distributed, or used for artificially accelerating the drying of plant tissues.

(24) “Nematode” means invertebrate animals of the phylum nemathelminthes and class nematoda, that is, unsegmented round worms with elongated, fusiform, or saclike bodies covered with cuticle, and inhabiting soil, water, plants, or plants parts. A nematode may also be called nemas or eelworms.

(25) “Agricultural seed” has the same meaning as in section 641 of this title.

(26) “Neonicotinoid pesticide” means any economic poison containing a chemical belonging to the neonicotinoid class of chemicals, including:

(A) imidacloprid;

(B) nithiazine;

(C) acetamiprid;

(D) clothianidin;

(E) dinotefuran;

(F) thiacloprid;

(G) thiamethoxam; and

(H) any other chemical designated by the Secretary by rule.

(27) “Treated article” or “treated article pesticide” shall have the same meaning as “treated article” in section 1101 of this title.

(28) “Treated article seed” means an agricultural seed, flower seed, or vegetable seed that is a treated article pesticide. (Amended 1961, No. 74, §§ 1-4, eff. April 19, 1961; 1975, No. 42, § 1; 1981, No. 117 (Adj. Sess.); 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003; 2017, No. 113 (Adj. Sess.), § 20; 2019, No. 35, § 1; 2023, No. 6, § 48, eff. July 1, 2023.)