> So where did that come from (that you need not follow the label)?

Sorry to be so slow in responding (out of town, not paying attention unless
someone forwards me something via email with a question...)

I was quoting the EPA itself, in their response to the spirotetramat
registration revocation that resulted from the NRDC lawsuit.  My post at the
time quoted that document more completely: 

http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A2=ind1311&L=BEE-L&
P=R4096&1=BEE-L&9=A&J=on&d=No+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches&z=4

or

http://tinyurl.com/on2udsp

That original document seems to have been replaced with the plan that the
EPA cobbled together as a result of the comedy of errors that led to the
revocation.

I have no idea what regulators in Maine can do at the state level to enforce
a label that no longer has any legal weight, due to the revocation of the
registration that allows enforcement of the label.  But the EPA does depend
upon the states for nearly all enforcement, so maybe Maine takes the "Dirty
Harry" approach, taking names, kicking ass, and daring the violators to
quibble with them over minor details like "the actual law". ("Do you feel
lucky, punk?")  :)

"The Label is The LAW" chant beekeepers, but they couldn't be more wrong.
FIFRA is the law, and it allows or prohibits sales and distribution.  As the
EPA letter made clear, there is NO law against USE of an unregistered
pesticide, there are only laws against sales and distribution.

At the federal level, my prior statements stand - the higher the pay grade
of the federal official, the more respect they have AND EXPRESS for federal
district court rulings.  If such an official wanted to make a public
statement about the most recent lawsuit, even to offer a personal opinion,
it would seem unlikely that they such a statement would be made through a
beekeeper "on Bee-L.

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