University
team at the forefront of ensuring pesticide safety
The University's Agriculture and
Environment Research Unit (AERU), have been working to support the
European Food Safety Authority in assessing the safety of pesticides
for residents and bystanders.
Under European legislation, there are now
clear specifications for the data that manufacturers need to provide
before they can legally place a plant protection product (pesticide) on
the market in the European Union. This includes a requirement for
providing sufficient data for an estimate to be made of both the acute
and chronic exposure of groups not traditionally considered, in
particular local residents and bystanders. These groups of people may
be exposed to potentially harmful chemicals without being actively
involved in farming, either as a result of living, working or go to
school (for example) near to fields in which pesticides may be used
(residents), or due to spending time in or directly adjacent to a
treated fields for shorter periods (e.g. walkers). Farm workers are
considered separately. In 2014, the European Food Safety Authority
(EFSA) published a guideline document to help risk assessors,
researchers and the pesticide industry itself to calculate the risks
posed to people in the proximity of chemical spraying, together with a
tool for making such calculations. However, it has been recognised that
the dataset available for supporting such assessments is currently
somewhat limited, due to the fact that it contains many gaps and is
often based on a relatively small number of studies, some of which were
conducted 30 years or more ago. Indeed there is a lack of clarity as to
precisely what data is out there. As a result, the University of
Hertfordshire's Agriculture and Environment Research Unit (AERU) was
contracted by EFSA to carry out a systematic review and evaluation of
published data in terms of its quality and suitability for upgrading
the data currently used for making the sort of assessments now required
by law.
The data collated by AERU from academic
research publications, industry reports and grey literature, includes
daily air concentrations, drift values and data relating to
dislodgeable foliar residues, and is intended to be suitable for the
assessment of exposure for both residents and bystanders, and in some
cases other groups, including those working in the agricultural
industry. To make the process more manageable, AERU have structured the
data into a database and developed bespoke software to facilitate
in-house database population, data retrieval, interrogation and finally
export into EFSA's own databases and tools. This ensures that the
considerable volumes of complex data involved can be efficiently
controlled and updated, and that the data sent to EFSA is fully
referenced and traceable. It also means that any future advances in the
science can be easily incorporated into the way in which the regulatory
framework is implemented. It therefore, provides regulators with a
valuable resource for managing the risks posed by agricultural chemical
use, and ensuring that the high standards we've come to expect from
European farming over the past few decades are maintained or improved
in the future, and that those living in the local area are protected
from any potentially harmful consequences. EFSA are expected to publish
the final report and data sets through their website shortly.
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