Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Biocides &
pesticides
Following on from the successful seminars held in previous years, the Pesticides Registration Section (PRS) will again be holding a one day seminar for the non-agricultural pesticides industry. The date for the seminar is Thursday 11th November, and will again be held at the Maritime Museum at the Albert Dock, Liverpool (the Museum have assured us that the lecture theatre will be warmer than last year - and we are sure fate won't give us fire alarms in consecutive years!). Approval holders will be receiving a copy of the booking form in the next few weeks. The seminar will include presentations on topics such as the progress with implementing the Biocides Directive, the split levy and how that affects approval holders, recent movement in rodenticides and food storage practice/animal husbandry insecticides, HSE research and general updates from PRS. You should return you completed seminar booking form to HSE.
We are hoping that the seminar will provide a forum for discussion both between HSE and the industry, and within the industry itself, and to help foster this PRS staff will be available for discussions with industry members in the Gallery room after the formal close of the seminar.
When you receive your copy of the booking form you should also receive an accommodation booking form. This has been put together by the Merseyside Tourism and Conference Bureau to help those delegates who wish to stay overnight in Liverpool (either before or after the seminar). Some delegates have found this to be useful for previous seminars. Bookings for accommodation should be returned to the Merseyside Tourism and Conference Bureau - not HSE - and please note that in the unlikely event of you encountering any problems with your accommodation booking, HSE cannot be held responsible.
Following on from the agreement to split the Control of Pesticides Regulations levy (reported in the March 1999 Newsletter) a number of changes will take place:
Collection of fees April 2000 will signal changes in the way that the HSE fees and levy are paid. More detailed information will be available in later Newsletters, but this informs you that from April 2000 HSE will collect its own fees and levy. This means that the address to which the remittance is sent will change. This matter has been discussed with industry representatives at the Fees and Charges meetings, and has been agreed in principle.
Please watch the December Newsletter for further details
It was also agreed at the fees and charges meeting in November 1998 that any products presently approved by MAFF/Pesticides Safety Directorate, which would eventually come to HSE/Pesticides Registration Section under the biocides directive, be transferred to HSE by April 2000. This means that PRS will become involved with rodenticides earlier than we expected under the Biocidal Products Directive.
PRS are at present negotiating with PSD on the practical arrangements for the split of responsibilities for rodenticides. Further details will be given in the December Newsletter. A similar exercise is taking place to look at other product groups.
If you would like any further information on these matters please discuss with your Trade Association, or contact Irene O'Neill or Gill Smith at the Pesticides Registration Section at the address given at the end of this Newsletter, or by telephone on 0151 951 4054/4919.
In the near future a new computer system will be introduced throughout the Pesticides Registration Section (PRS) and as a result approval holders will no longer receive a FEPA1 form for signing as part of the approval process. Instead the new system will generate a draft version of the Notice and Schedule which will be sent out to approval holders accompanied by a COPR-1 form which will need to be signed and dated. Once the details have been checked and both documents are returned to PRS the application will proceed as before. The introduction of this new system will not delay the approval process nor will it change the information received by the approval holder, only the format in which it is presented will change.
If you require any further information please contact Victoria Brennand, Approvals Group, PRS (Tel: 0151 951 4814 Fax: 0151 951 3317 or at the address given at the end of this Newsletter).
The Pesticides Registration Section is in the process of reviewing all current products approved for use in the above areas in line with the definitions as stated in the December 1998 issue of the Pesticides Newsletter. Where clarification is required over the product's usage area, HSE will contact the relevant approval holder. The result of the review may mean that the descriptors for the usage area of the product may change, but this will not affect how or where a product can be used. Once this review has been completed amended Notices and revised Schedules will be sent out to approval holders in due course.
To assist approval holders the definition of the above areas given in the December 1998 Newsletter are repeated below:
This is the direct application of a pesticide to food (either in the raw or processed state) or surfaces that come into direct contact with food thus creating a risk of pesticide residues occurring in food. FSP also includes the treatment of surfaces or utensils which may then come into direct contact with food and where pesticide residues in food may occur. Examples of FSP are direct application to grain, flour, and other stored products, direct application to surfaces and utensils, the inside of silos and storage vessels that come into direct contact with the foodstuff. Products for use solely in these areas are dealt with by the Pesticides Safety Directorate in York.
If you require further clarification please contact Dr Andrew Moore at the Pesticides Registration Section, by telephone on 0151 951 3855 or at the address given at the end of this Newsletter.
The HSE and MAFF are presently undertaking a review of all organophosphate and carbamate compounds present in agricultural and non-agricultural pesticide formulations. This review was initiated by Ministers, due to increased public concern over the use of these compounds. To help inform and educate pesticide users the ACP and Ministers have agreed that a relabelling strategy is required. This will require all new and current pesticidal formulations containing organophosphate/carbamate compounds to have an additional warning incorporated into the product label phrases.
Therefore, PRS (in conjunction with PSD) has sent a letter to all Approval Holders requesting that one of the following precautionary phrases should be present on current product labels. This applies to both Amateur and Professional approved products:
This product contains an anticholinesterase organophosphorus compound. DO NOT USE if under medical advice NOT to work with such compounds.
This product contains an anticholinesterase carbamate compound. DO NOT USE if under medical advice NOT to work with such compounds.
If you have any specific concerns or questions on this label change, please contact Dr A Moore at PRS by telephone on 0151 951 3855 or at the address given at the end of this Newsletter. Further details on the progress of the on-going review of organophosphates/carbamates are given in the article 'Review of Anticholinesterase Compounds : Update on Non-agricultural Pesticides' in the Reviews section of this Newsletter.
The review was announced in May last year and is addressing both agricultural and non-agricultural pesticides. The Pesticides Registration Section (PRS) issued data call-in notices on 30th September 1998 for all approved non-agricultural products containing organophosphate or carbamate active ingredients.
Approval holders were required to notify their support for their products by 31st January 1999. A number of active ingredients were not supported at this stage; these are chlorpyrifos-methyl, diazinon, iodefenphos, and trichlorphon. All products containing these active ingredients, and any other unsupported products, have received notices of revocation.
Approval holders should note that if applications are received, for products containing those active ingredients which were not supported through this review, the application will be treated as an application for a product containing a new active ingredient.
The revocation periods for HSE approved products are as follows:
Approval for sale and advertisement (other than for the purpose of disposal) to expire 07/06/2000
Approval for supply, storage (other than for the purpose of disposal) and use to expire 07/06/2001
For the purpose of disposal only
approval for sale, advertisement, supply and storage to expire 07/06/2002
The next phase of the review will begin with the submission of data to support products containing the following active ingredients: azamethiphos, chlopyriphos, dichlorvos, fenitrothion, pirimiphos-methyl, bendiocarb, IPBC (3-iodo-2-propynyl-n-butyl carbamate) and propoxur. The data submission deadline is 30th September 1999.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of this review please do not hesitate to contact Mr Paul Willgoss by telephone on 0151 951 3639 or at the address given at the end of this Newsletter.
There are no further changes to the situation that was reported in the last Newsletter. However, the following declarations have been published by DGIII. These declarations clarify:
i) that the derrogations for the use of PCP will be linked to the review programme for the Biocidal products directive; and
ii) that the remaining uses of organotin compounds (TBTO) will be linked to the IMO decision on a global ban for such products.
The specific declarations are as follows:
Declaration of the Commission concerning Pentachlorophenol:
The Commission will re-evaluate the remaining uses of PCP under the review programme established in Article 16 of Directive 98/8/EEC on the placing of biocidal products on the market in a timeframe compatible with the general timing of the review programme of the Biocides Directive, and taking into account of other possible priorities when effectively setting up the programme.
Declaration of the Commission concerning organotin compounds:
The Commission supports a global ban on the application of organotin compounds which act as biocides in antifouling systems on ships by 1 January 2003 as proposed by the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and will review the provisions in Directive 76/769/EEC as soon as the IMO has taken a definitive decision.
This does not affect the current approvals for any products; all approval conditions remain unchanged.
If you would like any further information on the above item please contact Irene O'Neill or Gill Smith at the Pesticides Registration Section at the address given at the end of this Newsletter.
If you require further advice or information about any of the above articles please contact the Pesticides Registration Section, by telephone on 0151 951 3535, fax on 0151 951 3317, or by letter to: The Pesticides Registration Section, Health and Safety Executive, Magdalen House, Stanley Precinct, Bootle, Merseyside L20 3QZ. We can also be contacted by e:mail at info.prs@hse.gov.uk