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Pesticide Hypersensitivity Registry and Application
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) maintains a registry of individuals hypersensitive to pesticides. It is a listing of locations for people who have been verified by a physician to be excessively or abnormally sensitive to pesticides. These hypersensitive individuals may request to have listings of their home, place of employment, school (if a student), and vacation home placed in the Registry. A person will not be considered included in the Registry unless their name appears in the current published Registry.
The Registry is distributed to all commercial and public pesticide businesses on March 1st and July 15th each year. The pesticide application businesses are required to notify any person in the most recent registry if they will be making an application to an attached structure or outdoor above ground pesticide application within 500 feet of any listed location.
What are the Notification Requirements?
Once you are listed in the Registry, pesticide businesses are required to make notifications to you 12 to 72 hours in advance of any pesticide application to an attached structure or an outdoor above ground application that they may make within 500 feet of any location that you have listed in the Registry. The notification may be made by speaking to an adult through personal contact, by telephone contact, leaving a message on your answering device, by certified mail, by posting a notice on the front door at the listed location or speaking to an adult at the alternate phone number you listed in the Registry.
The business must provide you their: business name, address, telephone number, the pesticide brand name and common name (if available), EPA Registration number of the pesticide, the location of the application and the proposed date and time of the application. The proposed application time may not exceed a 24-hour period.
Remember: A listing in the Registry does not prevent the pesticide application from being made.
How Do You Have Your Name Listed in the Hypersensitivity Registry?
Obtain an application which is available online, from your local pesticide businesses, or by contacting any PDA Office (listed on page 2). Decide with someone to be your alternate contact point. This person must be willing to receive calls when applicators cannot contact you directly and forward the information on to you. Complete the application using your legal address as your primary residence, daytime, nighttime, and alternate telephone numbers. You must complete all required blocks, or the application will be returned.
See your Pennsylvania licensed physician to have Part II of the form completed and signed. You may also wish to discuss what protective measures you need to take to protect your health in the event an application is made near you. Review your application for completeness and return it to: PA Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.
Before your name appears in the Registry, the information as it will be published will be mailed to you for your review for completeness and accuracy and requires your final approval. Because the Registry is a public document, the information you provide is considered public information. By submitting the application for publication, you are granting the Department the right to publish your information in printed or electronic media.
What Can I Do Until My Listing Appears in the Registry?
You can contact your neighbors, explain your situation, and ask them to voluntarily notify you of applications they might make (the Registry only applies to applications made by commercial and public applicators, not to persons making pesticide applications to their own property). If they employ a pesticide application business, ask the name of the company, so you could write the business with a request to be notified pending the next publication of the Registry.
How Do You Stay Listed in the Registry?
PDA will mail you a renewal application in October. You must review the information for accuracy and completeness, sign and return the application to PDA by November 30th. (You are not required to obtain a new medical verification for renewal.) Should you not return the renewal application, your information will be removed from the Registry. Should your information listed in the Registry change during the year you must notify PDA in writing of the changes to ensure the accuracy in the next publication of the Registry.
What if I am not Notified of a Pesticide Application After My Listing is in the Registry?
Once your listing is in the Registry, should a commercial or public pesticide applicator make pesticide application within 500 feet of your listing and fail to provide the required prior notification, we suggest the following:
- Personally, contact BCDH at 215-529-7000, explain that you are listed in the Hypersensitivity Registry and need to be notified of pesticide applications.
- Contact the PDA Regional Office in your area and ask to speak to an Agronomics Products Inspector. They will record the information regarding your complaint and assist you in the appropriate manor. It is helpful if you can provide the company name and the "BU" number displayed on the side of the service vehicle along with the location of the application.