National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual Vocabulary

Vocabulary terms and definitions from the National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual (2nd Edition, 2014) regarding pest management, laws, labeling, safety, and environmental protection.

Pest

An undesirable organism that injures humans, desirable plants and animals, manufactured products, or natural substances.

Pathogens

Disease-causing organisms, such as viruses, bacteria, or fungi.

Bioaccumulation

The accumulation of chemical residues in the fatty tissue of some animals, especially those higher in the food chain.

Biomagnification

The process by which some organisms accumulate chemical residues in higher concentrations than those found in the food organisms they consumed.

Biological Control

The use of natural enemies — predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors — to control pests and their damage.

Pesticide

Any material that is applied to plants, soil, water, harvested crops, structures, clothing and furnishings, or animals to kill, attract, repel, or regulate or interrupt the growth and mating of pests, or to regulate plant growth.

Systemic Pesticides

Pesticides that are absorbed and translocated (moved) within a plant or animal after application.

Contact Pesticides

Pesticides that are not absorbed by treated plants or animals and must directly touch the pest or a site the pest frequents to be effective.

Persistence

The ability of a pesticide to remain present and active in its original form for an extended period before breaking down.

Cultural Controls

Practices that reduce pest establishment, reproduction, dispersal, and survival, such as mowing, irrigation, aeration, and fertilization.

Quarantine

A pest control process directed by governmental agencies designed to prevent entry of certain pests into pest-free areas.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

A balanced, tactical approach to pest control that uses a wide range of control methods or tactics to prevent pests from reaching economically or aesthetically damaging levels with the least risk to the environment.

Economic Threshold (ET)

The pest population density at which control measures are needed to prevent the pest from reaching the economic injury level.

Economic Injury Level (EIL)

The pest population density that causes losses equal to the cost of control measures.

Action Threshold

The pest level at which some type of pest management action must be taken; it is a predetermined pest level that is deemed unacceptable.

Pesticide Resistance

The ability of a pest to tolerate a pesticide that once controlled it, often occurring when intensive pesticide use kills susceptible individuals but leaves resistant ones to reproduce.

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

The federal law that regulates the production, transportation, sale, use, and disposal of pesticides, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Restricted-Use Pesticides (RUPs)

Pesticides classified by the EPA as potentially hazardous to human health or the environment, which may be sold only to certified applicators.

Certified Applicator

An individual recognized by a regulatory agency as being competent to use or supervise the use of Restricted-Use Pesticides (RUPs).

Tolerance

The maximum pesticide residue limit that may legally remain on or in treated crops and animals sold for food or feed.

Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA)

A $1996$ law that set a higher health-based safety standard for pesticide residues in food, considering aggregate and cumulative exposures and focusing on infants and children.

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

A federal law making it illegal to kill, harm, or collect endangered or threatened wildlife or fish, or to remove protected plants from federal jurisdiction.

Active Ingredient (a.i.)

The chemical or chemicals in a pesticide product responsible for its pesticidal activity.

Inert Ingredients

Materials in a pesticide formulation that have no pesticidal activity, serving as diluents, carriers, or stabilizers.

Signal Word

A designation on a pesticide label (such as DA NGER, WARNING, or CAUTION) indicating the relative acute toxicity of the product to humans and animals.

DA NGER—POISON

Label signal words accompanied by a skull and crossbones symbol for products that are highly toxic by any route of entry into the body.

Restricted-Entry Interval (REI)

The amount of time that must pass between a pesticide application and the reentry of unprotected workers into a treated area.

Advisory Statements

Pesticide label recommendations or best management practices determined by the manufacturer to result in better performance or improved safety.

Safety Data Sheets (SDS)

Documents that provide detailed technical information about a pesticide's chemical and physical properties, toxicological effects, and emergency response procedures.

Solubility

A measure of the ability of a pesticide to dissolve in a solvent, usually water.

Adsorption

The process whereby a pesticide binds to soil particles.

Volatility

The tendency of a pesticide to turn into a gas or vapor.

Drift

Pesticide movement away from the application site by wind or air currents.

Temperature Inversion

A weather condition when the air at ground level is cooler than the air above it, characterized by stable air with little vertical movement.

Leaching

The process by which pesticides reach groundwater by moving through the soil in water.

Point-Source Pollution

Contamination that comes from a specific, identifiable location, such as a pesticide spill entering a storm sewer.

Nonpoint-Source Pollution

Contamination that comes from a widespread area, such as the movement of pesticides into streams after broadcast applications.

Aquifer

The overall geologic formation from which groundwater can be drawn.

$$\text{LD}_{50}$$

The dose of a toxicant required to kill $50\%$ of the population of test animals under a standard set of conditions, measured in mg/kg.

$$\text{LC}_{50}$$

The concentration of a substance in air or water required to kill $50\%$ of the test population.

Cholinesterase

An enzyme necessary for proper nerve impulse transmission and nervous system function, which can be inhibited by organophosphate or carbamate insecticides.

The Three Cs

The primary sequence of actions to take in the event of a pesticide spill: CONTROL the spill, CONTAIN it, and CLEAN it up.

Calibration

The process of measuring and adjusting the amount of pesticide that application equipment delivers to a specific area.

Adjuvant

A chemical that can affect how a pesticide works by improving its action or changing the characteristics of the formulation or spray mixture.

Surfactants

Surface active ingredients that alter the dispersing, spreading, and wetting properties of spray droplets.