COUNTYWIDE : Use of Pesticide to Be Restricted

Tough new restrictions will be imposed countywide on use of the pesticide endosulfan because of concentrations of the chemical found in shellfish in the San Diego Creek and Newport Bay, the county chief deputy agriculture commissioner said Thursday.

The controls, which a state official called “among the tightest restrictions anywhere in the state,” will prohibit use of the pesticide in Orange County fields where there is measurable irrigation runoff into flowing or fish-bearing waters.

In addition, the regulations, which become effective next week, will allow the spraying of endosulfan only when specific measures are used to control the drift of the spray, said Frank Parson, Orange County chief deputy agricultural commissioner. Application of the pesticide will be halted in areas that are within 300 feet of drainage channels or flowing creeks.

Aerial spraying of endosulfan, which Parson said occurs infrequently in the county, will be banned entirely.

The restrictions “are going to help measurably in confining the material to the site being treated,” Parson said.

The action follows the Newport Beach City Council’s decision last week to ask the state Department of Food and Agriculture to block the use of endosulfan, which is a cousin to DDT, on farmlands along the San Diego Creek drainage basin.

The state’s Mussel Watch Program, which involves planting clams or mussels in specific areas and harvesting them a couple of months later for examination, found concentrations of endosulfan in 1987 “many-fold greater” than in years since 1982 when testing began, said Patricia Carroll, senior environmental specialist with the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The concentrations dropped in 1988 but not to the prior levels, she said. Test results from 1989 samples are not yet available.

Newport Beach resident Jack Skinner, who was instrumental in calling the council’s attention to the problem, said the county’s new restrictions do not go far enough to protect Newport Bay.

“Clearly, anything short of banning it in the watershed will still pose a future threat to the bay,” he said.

But some agriculture and pesticide specialists say restricting the insecticide, which is used primarily on strawberries and chili peppers, makes an increasingly difficult job of pest control even tougher.

“We’re just losing another tool we have to work with,” said Dennis Queyrel, manager of Home Oil Co. of Anaheim, one of the county’s largest pesticide companies. “It will make a difference, there’s no question about that.”

How much the restrictions will hurt the industry depends upon the severity of insect infestation during a given year, Queyrel said. The fact that many farmlands now use drip irrigation will lessen the impact of the new regulations.

According to Parsons, 22 permits have been issued throughout the county to allow the use of endosulfan on crops. Queyrel said “very definitely 25%” of his customers will be affected by the restrictions.

Patty Hiatt, assistant director of the toxic information center in San Francisco, said endosulfan is toxic to marine life. Its threat to humans would depend upon the quantity consumed, she said. Workers who apply endosulfan must wear protective gear, including gloves, goggles and respirators.