AgroPages-Brazil strengthens regulatory agrochemical standards to protect bees, pollinating insects-Agricultural news

The Normative Instruction No. 2 from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), published on February 10, 2017, in the Official Gazette of the Union, has made rigid the risk assessment of pesticides that do not yet exist in Brazil and the re-evaluation of products that are already in the Brazilian market.

The goal is to curb the disappearance of species of bees in the country and avoid a syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which is already being faced in the United States and the European countries. The publication of this document is a joint effort of Ibama, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and representatives of the Academy and Industry, who in 2015 set up a technical working group (GTT) to discuss risk assessment procedures focusing on pollinators, more specifically bees.

The production of honey in Brazil is worth more than 300 million reals ($98 million) per year. The value is expressive, but the importance of the bees to the national economy goes far beyond the production of honey. About 70 percent of the plants used for human consumption depend on pollination and bees are the main pollinators. Of the 141 species of plants grown in Brazil for use in human food, animal production, biodiesel and fiber, approximately 60 percent, that is, 85 species depend on animal pollination. It is estimated that the economic value of insect pollination, mainly bees, corresponds to 9.5 percent of the agricultural production. From these data, it is possible to estimate how much a collapse in the population of bees could hit the country.

According to researcher Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Carmen Pires, which is a member of GTT, the Normative Instruction in the Brazilian legislation will regulate registration of products used in agriculture. This is because it establishes guidelines, requirements and procedures for the evaluation of the risks of active ingredients of agrochemicals on pollinating insects, using honeybee Apis exotic species and Brazilian fauna as indicator organisms. This evaluation is restricted to active ingredients not yet registered in Brazil, those submitted for re-evaluation and to new claims of products formulated with active ingredients that have already been submitted for risk assessment on pollinating insects.

The registration requirements submitted to Ibama up to the date of publication of this Normative Instruction will be evaluated based on the data and studies already filed on the date of the submission of the lawsuit, which may be required complements for products with a risk indicator for pollinators.

Agrochemicals are not solely responsible for the disappearance of bee colonies in the world. Along with them, there are other factors that deserve attention, such as the loss of natural habitats of these insects, as a result of diverse uses of land; pathogens and parasites that attack the colonies; and climate changes.

Publication of the Normative Instruction is part of a larger effort to preserve bees in Brazil and the world.

Participation in the Ibama Technical Working Group — Procedures for Risk Assessment of Agrochemicals for Bees — which resulted in the Normative Instruction is one of the actions through which the researcher Carmen Pires represents Embrapa in Brazil and abroad. Since 2003, it has been involved in different public policies in the area of risk analysis, focusing on the protection of non-target organisms from different technologies, especially pollinator insects. These initiatives cover research and data generation projects to support regulatory agencies and training projects in environmental risk analysis.

By 2016, two important results have been achieved through public policies.

One of them, which is also the fruit of the work of the GTT/Ibama, was the publication of the technical note "Risk Assessment of Pollinizers and Knowledge Gaps (ARA)," which presents a history of the development of risk analysis for pollinators and lists the main knowledge gaps that need to be filled for the continuity of ARA's work in Brazil. This note was sent to the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and will be sent to other development agencies, universities and research institutes.

The other was the international study coordinated by the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) which brought together experts from seven countries — the United Kingdom, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, Australia, Argentina and Japan — to assess the decline of the populations of honey bees in the world, especially in Europe and the United States, and to propose public policies to help governments adopt measures to protect this and other pollinator animals, who participate directly in food production.