§ 143-460. Definitions. - North Carolina Statutes

Part 5.  General Provisions.

§ 143‑460.  Definitions.

As used in this Article, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1)        The term "active ingredient" means

a.         In the case of a pesticide other than a plant regulator,defoliant, or desiccant, an ingredient which will prevent, destroy, repel, ormitigate insects, nematodes, fungi, rodents, weeds, or other pests;

b.         In the case of a plant regulator, an ingredient which,through physiological action, will accelerate or retard the rate of growth orrate of maturation or otherwise alter the behavior of ornamental or crop plantsor the produce thereof;

c.         In the case of a defoliant, an ingredient which will causethe leaves or foliage to drop from a plant;

d.         In the case of a desiccant, an ingredient which will artificiallyaccelerate the drying of a plant tissue.

(2)        The term "adulterated" shall apply to anypesticide if its strength or purity falls below the professed standard orquality as expressed on labeling or under which it is sold, or if any substancehas been substituted wholly or in part for the article, or if any valuableconstituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.

(2a)      "Antimicrobial pesticide" means any substance ormixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, ormitigating any microorganism pest.

(3)        Reserved.

(4)        "Board" means the North Carolina Pesticide Board.

(5)        "Commissioner" means the North CarolinaCommissioner of Agriculture.

(6)        "Committee" means the Pesticide AdvisoryCommittee.

(7)        The term "defoliant" means any substance ormixture of substances intended for causing the leaves or foliage to drop from aplant, with or without causing abscission.

(8)        The term "desiccant" means any substance ormixture of substances intended for artificially accelerating the drying ofplant tissues.

(9)        The term "device" means any instrument orcontrivance intended for trapping, destroying, repelling, or mitigating insectsor rodents or destroying, repelling, or mitigating fungi, weeds, nematodes, orsuch other pests as may be designated by the Board, but not including equipmentused for the application of pesticides when sold separately therefrom.

(10)      Repealed by Session Laws 1995, c. 445, s. 6.

(11)      "Equipment" means any type of ground, water oraerial equipment, device, or contrivance using motorized, mechanical orpressurized power and used to apply any pesticide on land and anything that maybe growing, habitating or stored on or in such land, but shall not include anypressurized hand‑sized household device used to apply any pesticide orany equipment, device or contrivance of which the person who is applying thepesticide is the source of power or energy in making such pesticideapplication.

(12)      The term "fungus" means any non‑chlorophyll‑bearingthallophyte (that is any non‑chlorophyll‑bearing plant of a lowerorder than mosses and liverworts), as for example, rust, smut, mildew, mold,yeast, and bacteria, except those on or in living man or other animals andthose on or in processed food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals.

(13)      The term "fungicide" means any substance or mixtureof substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating anyfungi.

(14)      The term "herbicide" means any substance or mixtureof substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating anyweed.

(15)      The term "inert ingredient" means an ingredientwhich is not an active ingredient.

(16)      The term "ingredient statement" means

a.         A statement of the name and percentage of each activeingredient, together with the total percentage of the inert ingredients, in thepesticide; and

b.         In case the pesticide contains arsenic in any form, astatement of the percentages of total and water‑soluble arsenic, eachcalculated as elemental arsenic.

(17)      The term "insect" means any of the numerous smallinvertebrate animals generally having the body more or less obviouslysegmented, for the most part belonging to the class Insecta, comprising six‑legged,usually winged forms, as, for example, beetles, bugs, wasps, flies, and to otherallied classes of arthropods whose members are wingless and usually have morethan six legs, as, for example, spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and woodlice.

(18)      The term "insecticide" means any substance ormixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, ormitigating any insects which may be present in any environment whatsoever.

(19)      The term "label" means the written, printed, orgraphic matter on, or attached to, the pesticide (or device) or the immediatecontainer thereof, and the outside container or wrapper of the retail package,if any there be, of the pesticide (or device).

(20)      The term "labeling" means all labels and otherwritten, printed, or graphic matter:

a.         Upon the pesticide (or device) or any of its containers orwrappers;

b.         Accompanying the pesticide (or device) at any time;

c.         To which reference is made on the label or in literatureaccompanying the pesticide (or device) except when accurate, nonmisleadingreference is made to current official publications of the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture or Interior, the United States Public Health Service,state experiment stations, state agricultural colleges, or other similarfederal institutions or official agencies of this State or other statesauthorized by law to conduct research in the field of pesticides.

(21)      "Land" means all land and water areas, includingairspace, and all plants, animals, structures, buildings, devices andcontrivances, appurtenant thereto or situated thereon, fixed or mobile, includingany used for transportation.

(22)      "Manufacturer" includes any person engaged in thebusiness of importing, producing, preparing, formulating, mixing, or processingpesticides.

(22a)    "Material Safety Data Sheet" or "MSDS"means a chemical information sheet which would satisfy the requirements of theHazardous Chemicals Right‑to‑Know Act, Article 18, Chapter 95 ofthe General Statutes, or any law enacted in substitution therefor.

(23)      The term "misbranded" shall apply:

a.         To any pesticide or device if its labeling bears anystatement, design, or graphic representation relative thereto or to itsingredients which is false or misleading in any particular;

b.         To any pesticide:

1.         If it is an imitation of or is offered for sale under thename of another pesticide;

2.         If its labeling bears any reference to registration underthis Article;

3.         If the labeling accompanying it does not containinstructions for use which are necessary and, if complied with, adequate forthe protection of the public;

4.         If the label does not contain a warning or caution statementwhich may be necessary and, if complied with, adequate to prevent injury toliving man and other vertebrate animals;

5.         If the label does not bear an ingredient statement on thatpart of the immediate container and on the outside container or wrapper, ifthere be one, through which the ingredient statement on the immediate containercannot be clearly read, of the retail package which is presented or displayedunder customary conditions of purchase except that the Board may permit thestatement to appear prominently on some other part of the container, if thesize or form of the container make it impractical to comply with therequirements of this subparagraph;

6.         If any word, statement, or other information required by orunder the authority of this Article to appear on the labeling is notprominently placed thereon with such conspicuousness (as compared with otherwords, statements, designs, or graphic matter in the labeling) and in suchterms as to render it likely to be read and understood by the ordinaryindividual under customary conditions of purchase and use; or

7.         If in the case of an insecticide, nematicide, fungicide, orherbicide, when used as directed or in accordance with commonly recognizedpractice, it shall be injurious to living man or other vertebrate animals orvegetation, except weeds, to which it is applied, or to the person applyingsuch pesticides or

8.         In the case of a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccantwhen used as directed it shall be injurious to living man or other vertebrateanimals, or vegetation to which it is applied, or to the person applying suchpesticides, except that physical or physiological effects on plants or partsthereof shall not be deemed to be injury, when this is the purpose for whichthe plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant was applied, in accordance withthe label claims and recommendations.

(24)      The term "nematicide" means any substance ormixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, ormitigating nematodes.

(25)      The term "nematode" means invertebrate animals ofthe phylum nemathelminthes and class Nematoda, that is, unsegmented round wormswith elongated, fusiform, or saclike bodies covered with cuticle, andinhabiting soil, water, plants or plant parts; may also be called nemas oreelworms.

(25a)    The phrase "packaged, labeled and released forshipment" means the point in the production and marketing process of apesticide where the pesticide has been produced, and it is the intent of theproducer that such product be introduced into commerce for direct retail sale.

(26)      A "person" is any person, including (but notlimited to) an individual, firm, partnership, association, company, joint‑stockassociation, public or private institution, municipality or county or localgovernment unit (as defined in G.S. 143‑215.40(b)), state or federalgovernmental agency, or private or public corporation organized under the lawsof this State or the United States or any other state or country.

(26a)    The term "pest" means any insect, rodent, nematode,fungus, weed or any other noxious or undesirable microorganism ormacroorganism, except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms on or inliving persons or other living animals.

(27)      "Pest control consultant" means any person, who,for a fee, offers or supplies technical advice, supervision, or aid, orrecommends the use of specific pesticides for the purpose of controllinginsects, plant diseases, weeds, and other pests, but does not include any personregulated by the North Carolina Structural Pest Control Act (G.S. Chapter 106,Article 4C).

(28)      The term "pesticide" means:

a.         Any substance or mixture of substances intended forpreventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest, and

b.         Any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as aplant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.

(29)      "Pesticide applicator" means any person who owns oroperates a pesticide application business or who provides, for compensation, aservice that includes the application of pesticides upon the lands orproperties of another; any public operator; any golf course operator; any seedtreater; any person engaged in demonstration or research pest control; and anyother person who applies pesticides for compensation and is not exempt fromthis definition. It does not include:

a.         Any person who uses or supervises the use of a pesticide (i)only for the purpose of producing an agricultural commodity on property ownedor rented by him or his employer, or (ii) only (if applied without compensationother than trading of personal services between producers of agriculturalcommodities) on the property of another person, or (iii) only for the purposesset forth in (i) and (ii) above.

b.         Any person who applies pesticides for structural pestcontrol, as defined in the North Carolina Structural Pest Control Law (G.S.Chapter 106, Article 4C).

c.         Any person certified by the Water Treatment FacilityOperators Board of Certification under Article 2 of Chapter 90A of the GeneralStatutes or by the Wastewater Treatment Operators Plant CertificationCommission under Article 3 of Chapter 90A of the General Statutes who appliespesticides labeled for the treatment of water or wastewater.

d.         Any person who applies antimicrobial pesticides that are notclassified for restricted use and are not being used for agricultural,horticultural, or forestry purposes.

e.         Any person who applies a general use pesticide to theproperty of another as a volunteer, without compensation.

f.          Any person who is employed by a licensed pesticideapplicator.

(30)      The term "pesticide dealer" means any person who isengaged in the business of distributing, selling, offering for sale, or holdingfor sale restricted use pesticides for distribution directly to users. The termpesticide dealer does not include:

a.         Persons whose sales of pesticides are limited to pesticidesin consumer‑sized packages (as defined by the Board) which are labeledand intended for home and garden use only and are not restricted usepesticides, or

b.         Practicing veterinarians and physicians who prescribe,dispense, or use pesticides in the performance of their professional services.

(31)      Repealed by Session Laws 1973, c. 389, s. 3.

(32)      The term "plant regulator" means any substance ormixture of substances, intended through physiological action, for acceleratingor retarding the rate of growth or rate of maturation, or for otherwisealtering the behavior of ornamental or crop plants or the produce thereof, butshall not include substances to the extent that they are intended as plantnutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants, and soilamendments.

(33)      "Public operator" means any person in charge of anyequipment used by public utilities (as defined by General Statutes Chapter 62),State agencies, municipal corporations, or other governmental agencies applyingpesticides.

(34)      The term "registrant" means the person registeringany pesticide pursuant to the provisions of this Article.

(35)      The term "restricted use pesticide" or "pesticideclassified for restricted use" means any pesticide or use classified asrestricted by the Administrator of the United States Environmental ProtectionAgency or other pesticide or use which the Board has designated as suchpursuant to G.S. 143‑440.

(36)      The term "rodenticide" means any substance ormixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling,attracting, or mitigating rodents or any other vertebrate animal which theBoard shall declare to be a pest.

(36a)    The phrase "to use any pesticide in a manner inconsistentwith its labeling" means to use any pesticide in a manner not permitted bythe labeling; provided that the phrase shall not include:

a.         Applying a pesticide at any dosage, concentration, orfrequency less than that specified on the labeling,

b.         Applying a pesticide against any target pest not specifiedon the labeling if the application is to the crop, animal, or site specified onthe labeling, unless the labeling specifically states that the pesticide may beused only for the pests specified on the labeling,

c.         Employing any method of application not prohibited by thelabeling, or

d.         Mixing pesticides or mixing a pesticide with a fertilizerwhen such mixture is not prohibited by the labeling.

(37)      The term "weed" means any plant or part thereofwhich grows where not wanted.

(38)      "Wildlife" means all living things that are neitherhuman, domesticated, nor, as defined in this Article, pests; including but notlimited to mammals, birds, and aquatic life. (1971, c. 832, s. 1; 1973, c. 389, s. 3; 1975, c. 425, s. 11; 1979, c.448, ss. 9, 10; 1981, c. 592, ss. 9‑11; 1987, c. 559, ss. 2, 18‑20;1991, c. 87, ss. 1, 2; 1995, c. 445, ss. 6, 7.)