Inept But At Your Service: Can You Trust Your Local Hardware Store?

Specific Key Indicators - Pesticide and Pesticide-Treated Products

Main Report

Public Notification Signs

In January 2001, the Indiana Pesticide Registered Consultant Rule - 357 IAC 1-9 - became effective in Indiana.  It requires retail establishments that provide advice on the selection and use of pesticides to:

1.                  Have a pesticide consultant for each location registered with the Office of the Indiana State Chemist.

2.                  Post a notice in an area that employees will see stating that pesticide selection and use advice may be provided only by employees that have completed the required pesticide consultant employee training.

3.                  Post a sign in the public area to notify the pesticide customer of the customer’s ultimate responsibility to read and follow the directions on the pesticide label and labeling. 

Therefore, any retail hardware store with clerks providing advice regarding the selection and use of a pesticide must have a sign posted.  During its visits, IKE found the following:

·                   Only 10% of the retail hardware stores had the public notification signs posted.

·                    A 100% score in the list below indicates that all of the chain’s stores had a warning sign posted.  The five major retail hardware chains had the following scores:

o       Home Depot      33%

o       Lowes                22%

o       Menards               0%

o       Ace                      0%

o       Do-It-Best            0%

Illegal Advice

Where signs were not posted, retail hardware stores are not allowed to give pesticide selection and use advice.  IKE evaluated compliance with the law by asking clerks how to get rid of cockroaches in an old home.  For example, it would be legal for the clerk to help the customer find a particular product or check a price.  IKE found the following:   

·                    Help regarding pesticides was available on 77% of the store visits. 

·                    Advice was given illegally 95% of the time.  Only 2 of the 37 clerks providing advice of any sort followed the law.  At one Home Depot and one Lowes, the clerk followed the law and stated that the clerk was not allowed to provide advice. 

·                    Most of the visits to Lowes, Menards, and Home Depot occurred after IKE notified the store that it filed a complaint with the Office of the Indiana State Chemist asking the agency to enforce the law. 

·                    A 100% score in the list below indicates that legal advice was always given.  The five major retail hardware chains had the following scores:

o       Home Depot      13%

o       Lowes                11%

o       Menards               0%

o       Ace                      0%

o       Do-It-Best           0%

Advice Safest for Kids

Pesticides must be used consistent with the EPA-approved label.  But the label leaves the user with significant flexibility and room for error, especially for the untrained consumer.  In addition, the different products pose varying risks to children’s health.

IKE 

supports the goal of reducing exposure to both pests and pesticides.  Therefore, IKE recommends against using foggers and sprays because they spread the pesticide in the air residents breathe and usually leave a residue that children can eat as they play on the floor.  In addition, foggers and sprays are not particularly effective since they have only a short-term impact on cockroach populations.  Finally, sprays do not penetrate most places where cockroaches are found. 

IKE believes that the best methods are gels that are injected into cracks where cockroaches are found or manufactured enclosed baits placed near cockroaches infestations.  Boric acid is also acceptable when it is applied in places out of reach of children since it has a low toxicity. 

IKE considered clerks that recommended sprays or foggers as not giving good advice safest for kids.  Based on its 35 visits where clerks provided advice on the selection and use of pesticides to kill cockroaches in a home, IKE found the following:

·                    74% of the advice was not good advice that was safest for children. 

·                    The experience at one Lowes store was disturbing.  A store clerk directed IKE to a clerk who wore a brown jacket labeled vendor.  Based on his nametag, he worked for Scotts® and Ortho®.  He dismissed baits, gels and boric acid as ineffective and recommended only an Ortho® spray.  The advice was biased towards a single vendor.

·                    A 100% score in the list below indicates that a chain’s clerk always recommended a product safer than sprays or foggers.  The five major retail hardware chains had the following scores:

o       Do-It-Best         75%

o       Ace Hardware    43%

o       Home Depot      29%

o       Menards             11%

o       Lowes                 0%