News Release: 04/04/2001
The question most asked about pesticides is 'has it been banned?' The number of pesticides actually banned is surprisingly few. But a new international Convention agreed in September 1998 will help to answer the questions of what is banned or severely restricted, by which governments, and for what reasons. A group of experts met in Rome from 19-23 March to help implement the Convention.
Governments signed the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) to alert other governments, particularly those in developing countries, of actions to ban or severely restrict a pesticide. Once a pesticide is agreed for inclusion in PIC, governments have the right to bar the imports of the active ingredients and any products, and exporting countries undertake to ensure their exporters comply. The Convention will enter into force when it has been ratified by 50 parties (the present tally is 14), but it is already operating on a voluntary basis.
While PIC was already operating under the International
Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides
of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the
negotiations for a Convention were triggered by the 1992 Earth
Summit. The FAO and the UN Environment Programme, which
act as Joint Secretariats of the Convention, are urging
governments to ratify before World Summit on Sustainable
Environment and Development (Earth Summit III), in
Johannesburg, June 2002.
The task of identifying whether a pesticide qualifies for PIC (i.e. whether a government's regulation is actually a ban or severe restriction) falls to the Interim Chemical Review Committee (ICRC). Membership of the ICRC consists of 29 government-designated experts balanced from different regions of the world. When the Convention has been ratified, the ICRC will become the Chemical Review Committee of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the Convention.
The Convention already includes 21 pesticide
active ingredients (and 5 formulations of pesticides
considered too hazardous for use in developing countries)
identified when the procedure was voluntary. The March
meeting was the second of the ICRC, and the experts still
spent time to developing procedures for implementation, but
they made their first recommendation on a pesticide that was
not waiting in the wings under the voluntary procedure.
The governments of Australia and Hungary
have both banned monocrotophos, meeting the criteria of a ban
in two different regions of the world. Experts from both
countries made presentations, and the ICRC, "taking into
account each of the specific requirement set out in . the
Rotterdam Convention, concluded that the requirements . had
been met." This makes monocrotophos the first 'new'
pesticide to go forward for PIC entry (though formulations
over 600g/l are already included under 'conditions of
use'). The ICRC is a technical advisory committee, and
preparations now need to be made to draw up a Decision
Guidance Document, and put the pesticide before a full meeting
of governments at an International Negotiating Committee for a
decision.
The ICRC also discussed how to treat maleic
hydrazide, as a result of a European Union ban on formulations
with more than 1ppm hydrazine. Investigations and industry
evidence clarified that contamination above this level occurs
in the diethanoleamine (DEA) salt formulations of maleic
hydrazide only, and that the product in trade is the potassium
salt. The main industry producer (Uniroyal) was present
and indicated that their company, and other producers, changed
their processing systems many years ago to ensure that all
their products on the market conformed to this standard. The
other two main US producers (Drexel and Fair Products) also
changed their processing systems. These companies have 100% of
the US market; Uniroyal and Drexel have 80% of the market in
Europe and Asia. Other manufacturers are Otsuka Chemical
(Japan), and a manufacturer in China (name unknown). Uniroyal
has been sampling products on the market regularly for over 10
years and it confirmed that:
1,500 metric tonnes of maleic hydrazide acid (technical grade) and approx. 2,000 metric tonnes of maleic hydrazide potassium salt are manufactured world wide. No hydrazine is produced in the formulation of maleic hydrazide into the potassium salt, nor in the storage of the potassium salt; DEA salt formulations were withdrawn several years ago; the last samples on the market were found over 10 years ago.
On this basis, the ICRC concluded there was
no trade in maleic hydrazide potassium salt with the level of
impurity subject to the EU ban. Uniroyal and other
manufacturers were requested to apply to the FAO for a
specification for the technical product, and the company is
already preparing this application. The expert from the US
undertook to write to the other two US companies producing
maleic hydrazide to ask them to also apply for an FAO
specification.
PIC is a tool to reflect government actions:
but it is an important tool which increases information flow
about bans and severe restrictions, and can help developing
countries to stop unwanted imports. While the process moves
slowly, if it begins to pick up pesticides such as
monocrotophos - a very hazardous organophosphorus pesticide
responsible for deaths and ill-health worldwide - the
process is worthwhile.
Barbara
Dinham