Minnesota Company Pushes Aquatic Plant Herbicides

Aquacide Company Runs Horrible Radio Ad

White Bear Lake, MN, is the home of Aquacide Company, a purveyor of lake weed control products. Recently, they've started running an ad on local radio stations that is misleading and may result in lakeshore owners violating Minnesota laws and subjecting themselves to some serious fines.

In the ad, which never mentions once that there are regulations regarding using chemical lake weed control measures in Minnesota lakes, the claim is that lake weeds are nasty, useless things that need to be killed. According to the ad, weeds are of no use to humans or the planet, and must be destroyed.

In the first place, plant growth in lakes is essential for the health of the lake. They support the fish and other life in the lake. That's why there are strict and detailed regulations for weed control measures, along with permit requirements, and other details not mentioned in this noxious radio ad.

In the second place, shoreline property owners on most lakes in Minnesota do not own the lake. They own only the land down to the normal high water line. The lake, including its weeds, belongs to the State of Minnesota. The company never discloses in the ad that people must learn the rules of lake weed control and apply for permits to use chemical controls. For shame, Aquacide Company! For shame!

For information on Aquatic Plant Regulations, go to the MN DNR web page. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/shorelandmgmt/apg/regulations.html

Let them know how you feel about this. You can comment on their website, or call them at 1-800-328-9350. http://www.killlakeweeds.com

http://www.osomin.com

the herbicides are to be used according to label instructions. I bet there is somewhere that the encouraged use is contrary to label instructions. Many times herbicides used in the water carry the warning that they should not be used near water - no kidding. Contact EPA.

FCC & FTC because they are encouraging illegal activity if owners are applying herbicides off their own property.

The Minnesota DNR allows some weed removal by lakeshore owners. Mechanical removal of up to 2500 sq. ft. is allowed, depending on the width of the property. Also, clearance of a channel from a boat dock to open water is allowed, in a channel 15' wide by as long as necessary.

Chemical treatment of the same areas is allowed by permit only, and there's a pretty sizable fee for the permit, since inspections are required. The chemicals sold by Aquacide Co. include 2-4-D in pelletized form. The problem is that there is no permit required to purchase the chemicals, and that leads to illegal application. Instead of requiring the lakeshore owner to obtain the permit BEFORE buying the chemicals, it works the other way.

So, given the hassle of the permit and the fees, very, very many lakeshore owners simply buy the stuff and use it. Since the smallest package of the most frequently-used chemical, 2-4-D, is designed to treat 5000 sq. ft., you can envision the problem.

This combines with the habit of lakeshore property owners of attempting to prevent people from using the waters in front of their property for fishing and other recreation. I know I've been yelled at with bullhorns while fishing in front of lakeshore homes.

The various lake owner's associations in Minnesota wield considerable lobbying power, but the DNR has managed to maintain the regulations, despite pressure from the legislature.

It's not unreasonable for lakeshore property owners to keep an area of water near the shoreline free of weeds, for swimming and other uses. It is, however, extremely dangerous for lake health to expand beyond the currely allowable restrictions, and that is the goal. Many lakeshore owners would be very happy if every living thing in the lake they live on was dead and gone. That way, there would be no anglers on the lake and few boats other than their own.

The shame of Aquacide Co. is that they hide all mention of the permitting and fee structure, except on one FAQ page and one other page. Nothing on the ordering pages says anything about it. This latest ad is their worst ever, claiming that lake vegetation is nothing but a nuisance and has no value to anyone or anything. The entire biology of lakes depends on the littoral area. Without a healthy aquatic vegetation population, fish could not survive in the lake, nor could the invertebrates that feed those fish.

You want to stop the misleading advertising because they are encouraging misuse of their product. They should be required to state permit requirements. Permits in these cases usually mean an exemption from the law. If they are not including the permit requirement, they are advertising illegally.

Contact the EPA, FTC and FCC.
Believe me, they take this sort of thing seriously. A friend of mine stopped an ad that showed someone touching a pesticide on a tv ad.

Also - you have a good environmental group in Minnesota, right? They should help too.

http://beyondpesticides.org has good info on 2,4-D

Good luck to you!

your DNR, or permit issuer should be notified about the misleading advertising that encourages misuse of a toxic product.
When I googled "2,4-D labels" I found conflicting information. It does say do not apply to water bodies, then they have rules for contaminated water, and products to use IN water!?!?!?

We'll see what they say.

he fined Monsanto $ 50,000 for their advertising, which he said was misleading in terms of saftety and what not.

If your local Attorney General is hot on the environment, maybe you could approach his or her office and see what they say.

I wish you the best of luck with this, which ever route you take.

:evilgrin:

if they are going to advocate that "...weeds are of no use to humans or the planet, and must be destroyed." Otherwise, thye have no right to destroy any species fo plant, no matter what their perception of it.

It's another example of those that don't understand the concept that there is no such thing as a "weed". Those plants are a nuisance only to those that are annoyed by plants being "out of place." "Weeds" are nature's indicators of soil imbalances. Improve the soil and those plants die off or don't grow anywhere near as much.

Here's a great online source for more on this idea: http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/weeds/WeedsToC.html

So, if there are such fees for the use of herbicides in that manner, has this ad come to the attention of the authorities yet? Because I can't see them allowing it to be aired at all if it's ignorantly promoting illegal action by homeowners. I could also see the radio station getting fined for allowing it to be aired...

I received an answer from a DNR official. They are looking into the ad now, and they forwarded my email and their response to the MN Department of Agriculture, which regulates pesticides.

While many government agencies tend to be unresponsive to citizen contacts, that's not the case with the Minnesota DNR. All my contacts with them have led to some sort of action, even though not all those actions have been as I would have them.

On the other hand, my email to the Aquacide Company has yet to be answered, and I don't expect it will be. They may, however, remember that I wrote it once they hear from the DNR and the DOA here in Minnesota.

We're a state with millions of license-buying anglers, and the anglers far outnumber the lakeshore owners who wish all aquatic vegetation would go away.

We'll see what happens.

and that you're getting a response :)

The "lakeshore owners" sound like so many suburb and exurb dwellers where everything has to be neat and clean. Were I one of those owners, the lakeshore portion of my property would be natural with plenty of snakes residing in it to keep the neighbors out :P

Although I don't necessarily support angling and fishing, I am happy they do understand ecology and fight the uneducated in preserving it all.

They realize that if the waters they fish in are not maintained, the fish will be gone.

One of the best examples in Minnesota is the angler-supported restoration of trout streams in southwestern Minnesota. They went from containing zero trout, due to pollution from farms and other problems to being full of fish and other wildlife.

This was solely due to the efforts of anglers to get this done. Until the effort began, the state DNR didn't bother. Very few people in Minnesota fish these streams, but they are now back to being close to what they were before civilization destroyed them.

Without the efforts of anglers and hunters, wildlife would be a rare thing. Non-hunting and angling environmentalists simply do not have the numbers needed to effect the changes that have occurred in the past 50 years or so.