UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- More than 30,000 certified pesticide applicators in Pennsylvania easily can check their recertification credits online, thanks to a new Web page developed by the Pesticide Education Program in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

A link to the new Recertification Credit Information Web page can be found on the Pesticide Education Program's home page at http://www.pested.psu.edu.

To find the page, click on "Check Your Recertification Credit Status" in the Popular Topics bar on the left side of the page. Applicators must enter their certification number and last name as they appear on their certification card, then select "View Credit Information."

Users will see basic information -- such as name, address and BU number -- along with a table listing the categories in which they are certified, the number of credits earned and the number required. A note will indicate either how many credits they need by a certain deadline or that their requirements have been met.

If credits are needed, links are provided to the user's Department of Agriculture region and to the appropriate category section of the Recertification Meeting Finder, also on the Pesticide Education Program's Web site. The system also can indicate if a user's certification has expired or is in escrow.

The information in the Web page's database is updated weekly by the Department of Agriculture. Penn State's Pesticide Education Program has read-only access to this information and can not make any changes to the data. If users have questions about their status as indicated on the Web page, they must contact the Department of Agriculture.

In 2002, the state certified more than 5,200 new pesticide applicators and recertified another 25,600.

###

EDITORS: For more information, contact John Ayers or Sharon Gripp at 814-863-0263.

Contact:

Chuck Gill cdg5@psu.edu 814-863-2713 814-863-9877 fax #285