The Advisory Committee on Pesticides provides independent advice to Ministers on matters relating to the regulation and use of pesticides, including applications for approval of new products and reviews of existing approvals. It usually meets in closed session (because of intellectual property and commercial secrecy considerations) approximately six times a year in York.
Those present:
Chairman: Prof J G Ayres
Members: Ms A Baker; Prof C Brown; Dr J Cherrie; Prof G Hawksworth; Prof V Howard; Dr A Leake; Dr G M McPherson; Prof L Maltby; Prof P Matthiessen; Prof C Ockleford; Dr D Osborn; Dr W Parker; Prof J Parry; Dr A Povey; Dr D Ray.
Apologies: Ms R Howell; Dr H Rees.
Written comments received from: HPA
Representatives from the following Departments and other organisations were present: The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD ), Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Health & Safety Executive (HSE ), Food Standards Agency, National Assembly of Wales Agriculture Department (NAWAD), Department for Agriculture & Rural Development Northern Ireland (DARDNI).
At its meeting on 11th November 2008 , the Committee discussed the following issues:
1. Agenda Item 1: Minutes and Detailed record of discussion
1.1 a) 333rd Meeting: Minutes [ACP 1 (334/2008)]
1.1.1 Agreed as drafted (link to minutes of 333rd meeting)
1.2 b) 333rd Meeting: Detailed record of discussion [ACP 2 (334/2008)]
1.2.1 Agreed as drafted, subject to two minor amendments
2. Agenda Item 2: Secretary’s report. [ACP 3 (334/2008)]
2.1 The Secretary to the Committee reported on the recommendations made at previous meetings
3. Agenda Item 3: Matters arising
3.1 a) Feedback from the Open meeting [ACP 21 (334/2008)]
3.1.1 Members reviewed discussions and the organisation of the ACP Open Meeting held on 10th November 2008, and agreed that it appeared to have been well received by attendees. Procedure and organisation would be reviewed to assist at future meetings.
3.1.2 The Secretariat would circulate the note from the Meeting to Members for agreement before it is published on the ACP website.
3.2 b) Comparison of toxicology end points and reference doses for endocrine disrupters and triazoles [ACP 17 (334/2008)]
3.2.1 The Committee welcomed comparative tables, prepared by the Secretariat, of endpoints and margins of safety accepted for endocrine disrupting compounds, and ‘conazole’ pesticides. Members were content that the approach taken for the decision on ipconazole was in line with that taken for other chemicals.
3.3 c) Ethaboxam -Request for advice received from applicant [ACP 19 (334/2008)]
3.3.1 Members heard that the applicant for Ethaboxam had asked to contact members directly for further advice on the data required. The ACP agreed that although they could not provide detailed advice on the protocol for further work, information would be provided via the Secretariat.
3.4 d) Other matters arising [ACP 5 (334/2008)]
3.4.1 Members heard that work on container design guidance was underway, and that the HSE Biocides and Pesticides Unit wished to be involved.
4. Agenda Item 4: Aclonifen [ACP 6 (334/2008)]
One Member declared a personal specific interest, and one a non personal specific interest, and took no part in the discussion on this agenda item.
4.1 Members considered the advice received from the Committee on Mutagenicity (CoM) on Aclonifen, The ACP recorded their thanks to the COM and its Secretariat for their advice.
4.2 The ACP agreed with the advice from CoM that further metabolism data were required to confirm the extent of formation of possible genotoxic metabolites.
4.3 Members noted that the aquatic ecotoxicology assessment remained finely balanced. They agreed that monitoring data to confirm actual field exposures in UK conditions must be obtained before use could be approved.
4.4 In view of the fact that the active substance is already listed in Annex I, the Committee agreed to provide formal advice to Ministers that further data would be required before approval could be recommended in the UK.
5. Agenda Item 5: Monitoring of the medical and scientific literature for epidemiological studies on pesticides published between January 2007 and December 2007 [ACP 7 (334/2008)]
5.1 The ACP welcomed the annual monitoring of medical and scientific literature for epidemiological studies on pesticides, and agreed that a similar approach should be adopted for monitoring 2008 literature.
5.2 Members identified some additional papers arising from other work recently undertaken, and these will be provided to toxicology Members. The Committee agreed that a summary of the US agricultural health survey would be valuable once this large project has reached an appropriate stage..
5.3 Ecotoxicology Members of the Committee suggested that a similar project could be carried out for environmental papers, but recognised that the huge volume of available literature would mean the scope of such a project would need to be carefully considered.
6. Chlorpropham Stewardship Programme [ACP 8 (334/2008)]
6.1 Members noted this report on the work of the Chlorpropham Stewardship Group which was established to address ACP concerns over residues of chlorpropham in potatoes.
6.2 The ACP welcomed the progress made to date, and congratulated the industry on their energy in addressing this issue.
7. Pesticide Risk to Children [ACP 10 (334/2008)]
7.1 The ACP regularly reviews reports from the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS), which record a significant number of incidents involving children. Most of the incidents are not classified as serious. Members discussed possible measures to address the issue and concluded that the framework suggested by the HPA, with strengthened labelling, child resistant containers and the retention of a case by case risk assessment, would help to further minimise risk to young children.
7.2 Members heard that an assessment used by the biocides and pesticides unit for baits used in the home setting might be appropriate for some other home garden products formulated as baits, and asked that this idea be examined as a part of this work.
8. Report from the Environmental Panel [ACP 12 (334/2008)]
8.1 The Chair of the Environmental Panel gave a report of issues discussed at the 103rd Meeting of the Environmental Panel held on 21st October 2008.
9. Report from the Pesticides Forum [ACP 15 (334/2008)]
9.1 The ACP Chairman gave a verbal report following his attendance at the Pesticides Forum Meeting on 14th October 2008 [link to forum mins]
10. Items considered by the ACP in 2008 [ACP 13 (334/2008)]
10.1 Members considered the recent publication of the ACP 2007 Annual Report, and confirmed that the case study approach should be maintained for the 2008 Report.
10.2 After reviewing the main items of discussion during 2008, agreement was reached on topics to include as the case studies.
11. Date of Next Meeting
11.1 ACP 335 on Tuesday 27th January 2009, commencing 11.00am, at Foss House, York,
12. Any Other Business
12.1 The ACP discussed correspondence and a press release from The Soil Association.
12.2 Members considered the items for information received since the last meeting.
J G Ayres
27 January 2009
