§ 921.01 — Pesticide definitions

Ohio § 921.01

• Jurisdiction: Ohio
• Title 9: Agriculture-Animals-Fences
• Ch. 921: Pesticides

Text

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Active ingredient" means any ingredient that will prevent, destroy, kill, repel, control, or mitigate any pest, or that will act as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.

(B) "Adulterated" shall apply to any pesticide if its strength or purity is less than or greater than the professed standard or quality as expressed on its labeling or under which it is sold, if any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the pesticide, or if any valuable constituent of the pesticide has been wholly or in part abstracted.

(C) "Agricultural commodity" means any plant or part thereof or animal or animal product, produced for commercial use by a person, including farmers, ranchers, vineyardists, plant propagators, Christmas tree growers, aquaculturists, floriculturists, orchardists, foresters, or other comparable persons, primarily for the sale, consumption, propagation, or other use, by humans or animals.

(D) "Aircraft" means any device used or designed for navigation or flight in the air, except a parachute or other device used primarily as safety equipment.

(E) "Animal" means all vertebrate and invertebrate species, including, but not limited to, humans and other mammals, birds, fish, and shellfish.

(F) "Authorized diagnostic inspection" means a diagnostic inspection conducted by a commercial applicator in the pesticide-use category in which the commercial applicator is licensed under this chapter.

(G) "Beneficial insects" means those insects that, during their life cycle, are effective pollinators of plants, are parasites or predators of pests, or are otherwise beneficial.

(H) "Brand" means any word, name, symbol, device, or combination thereof, that serves to distinguish the pesticide manufactured or distributed by one person from that manufactured or distributed by any other person.

(I) "Pesticide applicator" means a commercial applicator or a private applicator.

(J) "Private applicator" means an individual who is licensed under section921.11of the Revised Code.

(K) "Commercial applicator" means an individual who is licensed under section921.06of the Revised Code to apply pesticides or to conduct authorized diagnostic inspections.

(L) "Competent" means properly qualified as evidenced by passing the general examination and each applicable pesticide-use category examination for the pesticide-use categories in which a person applies pesticides and, in the case of a person who is a commercial applicator, conducts diagnostic inspections and by meeting any other criteria established by rule.

(M) "Federal act" means the "Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act," 61 Stat. 163 (1947), 7 U.S.C.A. 136, as amended.

(N) "Defoliant" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for causing the leaves or foliage to drop from a plant, with or without causing abscission.

(O) "Desiccant" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for artificially accelerating the drying of plant tissue.

(P) "Device" means any instrument or contrivance, other than a firearm, that is intended for trapping, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest or any other form of plant or animal life, other than human beings and other than bacteria, virus, or other microorganism on or in living human beings or other living animals. "Device" does not include equipment used for the application of pesticides when sold separately therefrom.

(Q) "Direct supervision" means, unless otherwise prescribed by its labeling, a general use pesticide is considered to be applied under the direct supervision of a commercial applicator, if it is applied by a trained serviceperson acting under the instructions and control of a commercial applicator.

(R) "Directly supervise" means providing direct supervision under division (Q) of this section.

(S) "Distribute" means to offer or hold for sale, sell, barter, ship, deliver for shipment, or receive and, having so received, to deliver or offer to deliver, pesticides in this state. "Distribute" does not mean to hold for use, apply, or use pesticides or dilutions of pesticides, except when a pesticide dealer holds for use, applies, or uses pesticides or dilutions of pesticides in the course of business with a commercial applicator who is employed by that pesticide dealer.

(T) "Environment" includes water, air, land, and all plants and human beings and other animals living therein, and the interrelationships that exist among them.

(U) "Fungus" means any nonchlorophyll-bearing thallophyte, which is any nonchlorophyll-bearing plant of a lower order than mosses and liverworts, as for example, rust, smut, mildew, mold, yeast, and bacteria, except those on or in living human beings or other animals, or processed food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals.

(V) "General use pesticide" means a pesticide that is classified for general use under the federal act.

(W) "Ground equipment" means any device, other than aircraft, used on land or water to apply pesticides in any form.

(X) "Incidental use" or "incidentally use" means the application of a general use pesticide on an occasional, isolated, site-specific basis in order to avoid immediate personal harm. "Incidental use" or "incidentally use" does not mean regular, routine, or maintenance application of a general use pesticide.

(Y) "Inert ingredient" means an ingredient that is not active.

(Z) "Ingredient statement" means a statement of the name and percentage of each active ingredient, together with the total percentage of inert ingredients. When the pesticide contains arsenic in any form, the ingredient statement shall include percentages of total and water soluble arsenic, each calculated as elemental arsenic.

(AA) "Insect" means any of the numerous small invertebrate animals generally having the body more or less obviously segmented, for the most part belonging to the class insecta, including, but not limited to, beetles, bugs, bees, and flies, and to other allied classes of arthropods, including, but not limited to, spiders, mites, ticks, centipedes, and wood lice.

(BB) "Integrated pest management" means a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health, and environmental risks.

(CC) "Label" means the written, printed, or graphic matter on, or attached to the pesticide or device, or any of its containers or wrappers.

(DD) "Labeling" means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter:

(1) Accompanying the pesticide product or device at any time;

(2) To which reference is made on the label or in literature accompanying the pesticide product or device, except when accurate, nonmisleading reference is made to current official publications of the United States environmental protection agency, the United States department of agriculture or interior, the United States department of health and human services, state experiment stations, state agricultural colleges, or other similar federal or state institutions or official agencies, authorized by law to conduct research in the field of pesticides;

(3) Including all brochures, technical and sales bulletins, and all advertising material.

(EE) "Licensure" includes certification as used in the federal act.

(FF) "Misbranded" applies, if the conditions of either division (FF)(1) or (2) of this section are satisfied as follows:

(1) To any pesticide or device, if at least one of the following occurs:

(a) Its labeling bears any statement, design, or graphic representation relative thereto or to its ingredients that is false or misleading in any particular.

(b) It is an imitation of or is distributed under the name of another pesticide or device.

(c) Any word, statement, or other information required to appear on the label or labeling is not prominently placed thereon with such conspicuousness, as compared with other words, statements, designs, or graphic matter in the labeling, and in such terms as to render it likely to be read and understood by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use.

(2) To any pesticide, if at least one of the following occurs:

(a) The labeling of a restricted use pesticide does not contain a statement that it is a restricted use pesticide.

(b) The labeling accompanying it does not contain directions for use that are necessary for effecting the purpose for which the pesticide is intended and, if complied with, together with any requirements imposed by the federal act, that are adequate to protect the environment.

(c) The label does not bear all of the following:

(i) The name, brand, or trademark under which the pesticide is distributed;

(ii) An ingredient statement on the part of the immediate container and on the outside container and wrapper of the retail package, if any, through which the ingredient statement on the immediate container cannot be clearly read, which is presented or displayed under customary conditions of purchase, provided that the ingredient statement may appear prominently on another part of the container as permitted by the amended federal act or by the director;

(iii) A warning or caution statement that may be necessary and that, if complied with together with any requirement imposed under the federal act, would be adequate to protect the environment;

(iv) The net weight or measure of the contents, subject to such reasonable variations as the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency or the director of agriculture may permit;

(v) The name and address of the manufacturer, registrant, or person for whom manufactured;

(vi) The United States environmental protection agency registration number assigned to each establishment in which the pesticide was produced and the agency registration number assigned to it, as required by regulations under the federal act.

(d) The pesticide contains any substance or substances in quantities highly toxic to human beings unless the label bears, in addition to other label requirements, all of the following:

(i) The skull and crossbones;

(ii) The word "poison" in red prominently displayed on a background of distinctly contrasting color;

(iii) A statement of an antidote or a practical or emergency medical treatment, first aid or otherwise, in case of poisoning by the pesticide.

(e) It is contained in a package or other container or wrapping that does not conform to the standard established by the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency.

(GG) "Nematodes" means invertebrate animals of the phylum nemathelminthes and class nematoda, which are unsegmented, round worms with elongated, fusiform, or sac-like bodies covered with cuticle, and that inhabit soil, water, plants, or plant parts and also may be called nema or eel-worms.

(HH) "Pest" means a harmful, destructive, or nuisance insect, fungus, rodent, nematode, bacterium, bird, snail, weed, or parasitic plant or a harmful or destructive form of plant or animal life or virus, or any plant or animal species that the director declares to be a pest, except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms on or in living animals, including human beings.

(II) "Pesticide" means any substance or mixture of substances intended for either of the following:

(1) Preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest;

(2) Use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.

"Pesticide" includes a pest monitoring system designated by rule.

(JJ) "Pesticide dealer" means any person who distributes restricted use pesticides or pesticides whose uses or distribution are further restricted by the director to the ultimate user or to a commercial applicator who is employed by that pesticide dealer.

(KK) "Pesticide business" means a person who performs pesticide business activities.

(LL) "Pesticide business activities" means any of the following:

(1) The application of pesticides to the property of another for hire;

(2) The solicitation to apply pesticides;

(3) The conducting of authorized diagnostic inspections.

(MM) "Pesticide-use category" means a specialized field of pesticide application or of diagnostic inspection as defined by rule.

(NN) "Plant regulator" means any substance or mixture of substances, intended, through physiological action, for accelerating or retarding the growth or rate of maturation, or for otherwise altering the behavior of plants or the produce thereof, but does not include substances to the extent that they are intended as plant nutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants, or soil amendments.

(OO) "Product name" means a coined or specific designation applied to an individual pesticide of a fixed combination and derivation.

(PP) "Registrant" means a person who has registered a pesticide under this chapter.

(QQ) "Restricted use pesticide" means any pesticide or pesticide use classified by the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency for use only by a pesticide applicator.

(RR) "Rule" means a rule adopted under section921.16of the Revised Code.

(SS) "Sell or sale" means exchange of ownership or transfer of custody.

(TT) "State restricted use pesticide" means any pesticide or pesticides classified by the director subsequent to a hearing held in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code for use only by pesticide applicators.

(UU) "Unreasonable adverse effects on the environment" means any unreasonable risk to human beings or the environment taking into account the economic, social, and environmental benefits and costs of the use of any pesticide.

(VV) "Trained serviceperson" means an employee of a pesticide business, other business, agency of the United States government, state agency, or political subdivision who has been trained to apply general use pesticides while under the direct supervision of a commercial applicator.

(WW) "Weed" means any plant that grows where not wanted.

(XX) "Wildlife" means all living things that are neither human, domesticated, or pests, including, but not limited to, mammals, birds, and aquatic life.

(YY) "Trade secret" and "confidential business information" mean any formula, plan, pattern, process, tool, mechanism, compound, procedure, production date, or compilation of information that is not patented, that is known only to certain individuals within a commercial concern, and that gives its user an opportunity to obtain a business advantage over competitors who do not know or use it.

Last updated July 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM

Legislative History

Effective: September 30, 2025 | Latest Legislation: House Bill 96 - 136th General Assembly