Potato crop herbicide metribuzin to be banned in EU

By Charles O'Donnell

The herbicide metribuzin, which is widely used on potato crops in the EU, will be banned throughout the bloc following a decision by the European Commission.

The approval of metribuzin for use in the EU had been set to expire on February 15 next.

However, this was part of an extended approval period to allow the renewal procedure to be finalised.

Now that it has been finalised, and the commission has decided not the renew the substance, the commission said the full extension period will not be required and therefore the ban should come into effect before February 15.

The decision comes after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), on foot of submissions from Estonia and Germany, assessed the health impact of metribuzin.

The EFSA said that the chemical meets the criteria to be identified as an endocrine disruptor in humans, and that the level of exposure of humans to the chemical as part of plant protection products, under realistic conditions of use, is not negligible.

As well as that, the EFSA said that a high risk to bees could not be excluded.

The authority’s assessment also concluded that a wide-range of non-chemical methods are available to control dangers to plant health, although the EFSA admitted that those methods might not have the same efficacy as chemical methods, or might have economic limitations.

The renewal case then went before the commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, which found that the concern regarding metribuzin could not be eliminated.

Therefore, the commission said that it was appropriate not to renew the approval of the active substance metribuzin.

The commission also said that member states should be given six months from when the ban takes effect to withdraw authorisations for plant protection products containing the chemical.

Any ‘grace period’ that a member state decides to grant for these plant protection products will not extend longer than 12 months after the ban comes into effect.

The ban does not prevent applications put forward to the commission for the reapproval of metribuzin from being made in the future.