Comment submitted by W. Palmer, Palm Beach County Superintendent's Association

I think that the EPA should reconsider their decision to cancel registration of the organic arsenical herbicides (MSMA, DSMA, and CMA) in the turfgrass market. For bermudagrass, no comparable substitute for the organic arsenical herbicides is available. No control alternatives exist for a number of weeds. Lack of suitable control is especially true for dallisgrass and for tropical signalgrass. One of the acceptable alternatives would be to limit the use of MSMA to spot treatment only. My golfcourse is a low budget executive facility that cannot afford to spend alot of money on preemergent herbicides. We also used RonStar as a preemergent for our fairways in the Spring of 2006 and still got tropical signalgrass. The only treatment was to use MSMA to control this weed. We exercise extreme caution when dispensing any chemical on our golfcourse as to not pollute any natural wetland areas or lakes, streams or anything other than the turf of the golfcourse. We need to have not a weed free facility but we must have the weeds under control for golfers to be satisfied we are doing the best we can to give them the best golfcourse for the money they spend. If the golfcourse is full of weeds the golfers will not come back.