China to initiate neonicotinoid pesticide risk assessment

By CnAgri Print Recently European Commission declared to take measures to restrict the use of 3 neonicotinoid pesticides – imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin; this new regulation has attracted widespread attentions among the industry. Some days ago, the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals of Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA) held a neonicotinoid pesticide risk assessment workshop in Beijing to discuss about the management of this kind of pesticides.

Presentations were given at the workshop on the neonicotinoid pesticide development, registration process of other countries, impact analysis on honeybee, etc; detailed discussion was held with respect to neonicotinoid pesticide’s impact on honeybee in China.

In view of the difference between beekeeping in EC countries and China, the workshop reached the following common understandings:

1. To strengthen monitoring of pesticide’s impact on honeybee and establish risk assessment methodology to systematically assess pesticide’s impact on honeybee.
2. To start applications of neonicotinoid pesticide to honey crop and indefinite inflorescence crop to assess the risk brought to honeybee.
3. To investigate the production and the use of neonicotinoid pesticides; to track its impact on beneficial organisms; to cooperate further with other countries in the assessment so as to assess the impact fairly and objectively.
4. To amend and make complete tags with added warning marks and prevent potential risks.

The workshop is China’s first-time meeting address the issue of pesticide’s impact to honeybee. Due to honeybee’s importance in farming and ecology, future pesticide registration process will take into account the pesticide’s impact on honeybee.
 
The workshop considers that pesticide should be generally assessed on the basis of an overall risk and benefit evaluation; prohibition and restriction of the use need to be supported by technical data resulting from scientific experimentation.