More pesticides head for PIC list

International experts have recommended the inclusion of the herbicide, alachlor, and the insecticide/acaricide/nematicide, aldicarb, on the prior informed consent (PIC) list under the Rotterdam Convention. At the 4th meeting of the Convention’s Chemical Review Committee (CRC) in March, it was agreed that actions to ban or severely restrict the active ingredients in two regions met PIC criteria. The CRC will draw up decision guidance documents, with a view to completion by November.

Recommendations to include alachlor on the PIC list were made by the EU and Canada. The CRC reviewed the EU’s submission, based on its ban of all alachlor uses to protect health and the environment. The CRC had previously considered the Canadian recommendation. The decision to call for aldicarb’s inclusion on the PIC list was based on recommendations by the EU and Jamaica. All uses have been banned in both regions. The Jamaican regulatory action was based largely on information from the US EPA and the UN WHO. The CRC considered that this was a good example of how developing countries could participate in the PIC process.

Also at the March meeting, the CRC decided that recommendations to add the insecticides, carbaryl, mirex and parathion-methyl to the PIC list did not meet the necessary criteria. The EU accepted the EU’s recommendations to include carbaryl and parathion-methyl but rejected notifications for carbaryl from Jordan and for parathion-methyl from the Dominican Republic and Guyana. A recommendation from Guyana for mirex was also rejected, while a Canadian notification has previously been accepted. As acceptable recommendations have been received from only one region for each of these pesticides, they are not being put forward for PIC listing at this time.