Apply Responsibly Education Effort Marks Groupʼs Third Year Advocating for the Protection of Stateʼs Urban Waterways

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (June 15, 2011) – Californians can take their backyard

gardening skills to the next level this summer with help from the recently launched “Gardening Hero” campaign, said officials from the Apply Responsibly pesticide stewardship program.

For the next two months, online, radio and mass transit advertisements will

encourage Californians to take advantage of an array of instructional gardening videos and articles now offered on the enhanced www.applyresponsibly.org Web site.

“We have combed the Internet to identify, aggregate and categorize some terrific online gardening resources already available on the web,” said Fred Pearson, chairman of the Urban Pyrethroid Stewardship, the industry alliance that established Apply Responsibly. “This is the first wave of easily accessible practical tips to help homeowners become better and more responsible gardeners.”

For the past two years, Apply Responsibly has focused exclusively on the smart and responsible use of home pesticides, said Pearson, but “in order to get our messages out to more gardeners, we believed it was important to provide a wider spectrum of information and resources to them.”

Launched last week, the new web pages contain more than 40 videos and articles in nine categories – from watering to learning more about tools and tips. The group plans to add resources throughout the year, including instructional videos by Apply Responsibly on the proper use of pesticides.

“The Gardening Hero campaign is in keeping with our core mission which is the ongoing education of the millions of consumers who choose to use pesticides,” said Pearson “As a society we need to make sure we keep pesticides out of our urban waterways. This is best accomplished when consumers know how to properly handle, apply, store and dispose of them.”

The stewardship group, comprised of leading pesticide industry companies, was established in 2008 with the goal of better informing California consumers about the important link between responsible pesticide use and safeguarding the stateʼs water and the environment. In past years, the Apply Responsibly effort has reached millions of Californians through media, advertising, online quizzes and community outreach.

Apply Responsibly reinforces many existing guidelines and established best practices, including, recommendations that consumers:

• Use, store and dispose of unused pesticides according to the instructions on the product label
• Never pour any leftover pesticides down the sink, toilet, sewer or storm drain.
• Donʼt stockpile pesticides. Buy only enough for one season
• Consider ready-to-use pesticides rather than products that need to be mixed if only a small area needs to be treated

In addition to raising awareness about pesticides in general, the program also seeks to educate homeowners and gardeners about “pyrethroid insecticides.”

Insecticides with pyrethroids are used to control a wide range of insects that can infest gardens and enter the home. Chances are most consumers are probably using a pyrethroid if they have purchased consumer pesticide products intended to control mosquitoes, caterpillars, ants, spiders, garden worms, wasps, cockroaches, aphids and other insects that threaten plants, home or health.

“Pyrethroid pesticides, as is true for all pest control products, need to handled in strict accordance with the label,” said Pearson. “With simple steps consumers can more effectively do their part to protect the environment by keeping potentially toxic products out of California waterways.”

[ top ]