Document xjE4GMvwa3J4q5v74M603yE0y

THE CAPITAU TIMES. ; 1 APR 3 0 1969 ___________________ Expert Admits on Cross-Examination: IJ.S.AgencyBidn t Make Own Check on Firms' DOT Claim By WHITNEY GOULD :ion came today from an official Washington, D.C. Hays was the 1 (Of The Capital Times Staff) if the department itself, who second witness in the chemical ! If DDT is indeed causing long-term damage to wijrld envi ronment -- as a string of scien :onducted a bewildering verbal SEE PICTURE ON PAGE 43 i n d u s t r ^'s defense of DDT, which began Tuesday in the Hill Farms State Office Building. , He was questioned at the out tists charged in the first part of set by George Robertson, gen the State Natural Resources De partment hearings on a petition to ban the pesticide in Wisconsin -- why then 1s~ it still registered journey info the intricacies of an impenetrable federal bureauc racy. ' eral counsel for the USDA, who said the USDA was appearing neither for nor against the pro for use with the U.S. ment of Agriculture?. Depart He is director Dr. HaTry W. of the Pesticides Hays, Regis posed ban. Hays, whose division ; is A partial answer to that ques- tration Division of the USDA, in charged with registering and en forcing use of pesticides and fungicides under the Federal In secticide, Fungicide and Roden- ( ticide Act (FIFRA) of 1947, told ( of the procedures involved, in 1 registration of a pesticide. i The procedures carry an ap-1 plication for registration ` through various branches of the j. division, whose scientists evalu- ^ ' ale the manufacturer's data on a proposed pesticide's chemical ' composition, effectiveness. ; safety, dosage, persistence, mi- ; gration, residues, and other at-1 ; tributes. _, i The hey here is that the appli cant himself submits that infor- ^ I mation. Hays admitted under ( ' cross-examination by Victor J. \ Yannacone, a 11 o r n e y for the i conservation groups seeking the ( ! DDT ban, that, although his di-1 ' vision reviews a manufacturer's data, it makes no "analytical determination" on its own of the ; claims in the manufacturer's application. 1 Effectiveness, according to the USDA's definition, would refer to a chemical's ability to eliminate a target organism. One of the arguments of scien tists seeking a ban on DDT is that the pesticide often elimi nates non-target insects, as well as those it was intended for......; *** Hays said he relied on the en tomologists within his division "to determine what effective control is." . ' "You mean to tell me," Yan- naconc asked, "that that (deter mination) is left to the independ-' ent judgment of some technician1 far down on your staff...?" j Hays said his entomologists! were "competent scientists," not technicians. Data on the persistence and! migration of a pesticide relates! essentially to persistence andj migration within the soil, Hays' noted. DDT's opponents have cited its ability to attach to par-l tides in the air, which carries | the pesticide far from its point j ;of application. | }. * * Yannacone asked Hays if he was familiar with the research of other scientists (many of whom testified in favor of a ban) who linked DDT to reprod uctive failures in fish and birds. Hays said, "I haven't thor oughly reviewed all the data." ' Yannacone asked Hays if there was not already more data j on the broad-scale harm of DDT; ] to wildlife than there was on its; ' relative safety. ! ; Hays answered,." . . . There : has been a remarkably good record on the use of DDT, with- | out any evidence of widespread adverse affects." j ; ' * j ! He said his own scientists are' not at present reviewing DDT, but that it and other persistent pesticides are being studied by' the National Academy of Sci ences. Hays, who has been with the ! USDA'since 1966, said that the ; only change in registration of ' DDT since that time had come 1 in the dropping of registration of the pesticide for use against: ' cockroaches, which had devel-! [ oped a resistance to it. | [ Further testimony revealed r that the only way a pesticide . ' could have its registration canf celed would be through proceed- 1 ings initiated by the agriculture secretary himself. ,,____ ^ DSW 201013 STLCOPCB4059077