Canada announces re-evaluation project plan for Zoxamide

The Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has recently published the re-evaluation project plan for Zoxamide. Zoxamide is a benzamide fungicide used to control oomycete diseases (for example, late blight and downy mildew). Zoxamide is currently registered for use on grape, bulb onion and potato. It is registered for application using ground and aerial equipment.

The re-evaluation project plan outlines the timeline, the anticipated areas of focus for the risk assessments, and the data requirements for the re-evaluation of zoxamide.

Anticipated Re-evaluation Timeline

The re-evaluation of zoxamide is defined as a Category 1 as described in Regulatory Directive DIR2016-04, Management of Pesticides Re-evaluation Policy. For this re-evaluation, 980 calendar days are required between re-evaluation initiation and publication of the proposed decision. Currently, a proposed re-evaluation decision for zoxamide is anticipated to be published for consultation by January 2020. The re-evaluation timeline may be updated if, during the risk assessment, the PMRA identifies additional areas of focus that should be considered.

Human Health Risk Assessment

New assessments will be conducted for dietary exposure. Existing assessments with minor updates are considered to be adequate to support the re-evaluation of zoxamide for the other aspects of human health assessment.

Environmental Risk Assessment

New assessments will be conducted for environmental fate, water modelling and environmental exposure.

Value

The value of zoxamide will be considered. The viability of alternatives will be examined for certain uses if risks of concern requiring mitigation are identified.

Data Requirements

The PMRA has identified the need for the technical registrant to provide data for zoxamide related to environmental toxicology and fate. Relevant data/studies were requested from the technical registrant. A summary of the data call-in is found in the PMRA's Public Registry. For a list of data categories that were required, see Appendix I. In addition, information regarding the registered use pattern was requested and received by the registrant, to inform the risk assessments.