Frequently Asked Questions

Who reports the pesticide sales and use data?

Commercial pesticide applicators and technicians who apply pesticides and people who sell pesticides under certain conditions are required to submit reports of the pesticides they used or sold to the New York State Department of Conservation (NYSDEC). This information is then compiled into a data base that is maintained by the Pesticide Sales and Use Reporting (PSUR) group at Cornell University.

Who can access the data?

Anyone can make use of the data, including:

• Individuals and groups interested in learning about specific pesticide products and ingredients and their commercial use in New York State.
• Scientists conducting research about pesticides and/or human health.

What do I need to know about the data before I use it?

We suggest you begin by reviewing the introduction to the data on our home page. It describes the sources of the data, its presentation and limitations, and how it is validated. In addition, we have provided a data dictionary that will help you use the data. The data dictionary will explain the data fields and things to keep in mind as you use the data. In addition, you can use the pesticide glossary provided by the New York State Department of Health.

What are the different ways to access the data?

There are three ways to access the pesticide sales and use data:

• Search the public data using the various search forms made available on this site.
• Download the public data and use an application such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, SPSS, or SAS to review and analyze it.
• If you are a researcher involved in human health-related research, you may apply to the Health Research Science Board for access to the confidential data. The Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology at the New York State Department of Health manages access to the confidential data. They can be reached at 518-402-7950 or BEOE@health.ny.gov.

Where can I download the data?

The report files are available, by year, in the download section of the PSUR website. The download files are stored in a zipped-file format (.zip).

What data files are available for download?

For report years 1997 through 2000, there are nine data files, which contain the product report files, available to the public. For all report years after 2000, there are eighteen data files containing the product and active ingredient report files. The zip files that contain the data files for each year also contain a file with the record layouts of each data file. Field descriptions can be found in the data dictionary. The following files are included:

Product Files

• Product names (1 file: prodnames.tab)
• Sales of restricted use pesticides and general use agricultural pesticides by commercial permit holders, summarized by state, county and ZIP code (3 files: sales_all.tab, sales_cnty.tab, sales_zip.tab)
• Sales of restricted use pesticides by commercial permit holders (1 file: sales_euse.tab)
• Resale of restricted use pesticides by commercial permit holders to other commercial permit holders (1 file: sales_resale.tab)
• Pesticide use by commercial applicators and technicians, summarized by state, county and ZIP code (3 files: use_all.tab, use_cnty.tab, use_zip.tab)

Active Ingredient Files

• Active ingredient names (1 file: ai_names.tab)
• Sales of restricted use pesticides and general use agricultural pesticides by commercial permit holders, summarized by state, county and ZIP code (3 files: ai_sales_all.tab, ai_sales_cnty.tab, ai_sales_zip.tab)
• Sales of restricted use pesticides by commercial permit holders (1 file: ai_sales_euse.tab)
• Resale of restricted use pesticides by commercial permit holders to other commercial permit holders (1 file: ai_sales_resale.tab)
• Pesticide use by commercial applicators and technicians, summarized by state, county and ZIP code (3 files: ai_use_all.tab, ai_use_cnty.tab, ai_use_zip.tab)