AgroPages-EU to phase out fungicide picoxystrobin-Agricultural news

The European Commission has decided not to renew the approval of the fungicide active ingredient picoxystrobin.

EU member states shall withdraw authorisations for plant protection products containing picoxystrobin as active ingredient by 30 November 2017 at the latest. Any grace period granted should, at the latest, expire on 30 November 2018.

Picoxystrobin is a strobilurin fungicide, inhibiting fungal respiration and has both preventative and curative properties, with improved curative properties compared to azoxystrobin in certain crops.

Picoxystrobin was initially introduced by Syngenta for control of yellow, brown and crown rusts, powdery mildew, sooty mold, net and leaf blotch and tan spot on cereal crops, including: wheat, barley and oats in Europe in 2001. In 2006, this product was sold to DuPont in return for access to the insecticide chlorantraniliprole for use in mixtures.

According to the Commission, they identified the following concerns about picoxystrobin during their renewal assessment: a clastogenic and aneugenic potential of metabolite IN-H8612 formed as a residue cannot be excluded and a high risk was identified for aquatic organisms and earthworms from exposure to picoxystrobin and for earthworm-eating mammals from exposure to metabolite IN-QDY63. Moreover, a number of areas of the assessment could not be finalised.

Based on the data available in the dossier it was not considered possible to complete the assessment of genotoxicity for picoxystrobin and consequently health-based reference values for use in risk assessment could not be established and therefore consumer and non-dietary risk asessements could not be conducted.

The compliance of the toxicity studies compared to the technical specification and the relevance of impurities could not be finalised given the incomplete assessment of the genotoxic potential of picoxystrobin. The absence of endocrine-mediated effects caused by picoxystrobin could also not be concluded.

The dietary risk assessment from exposure to metabolites could not be finalised as further data are needed to define the toxicological profile of several metabolites; consequently, residue definitions for risk assessment purposes could not be derived.

Furthermore, the genotoxic potential of several metabolites predicted to occur in groundwater could not be concluded based on the data available. Finally, the assessment of the risk from secondary poisoning via the aquatic food chain for birds and mammals could not be finalised.