Insecticides propargite and flufenoxuron excluded from EU Annex I

Date:09-27-2011

The European Commission has announced that the insecticides propargite and flufenoxuron will be excluded from EU Annex I in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, and amending Commission Decision 2008/934/EC.

Propargite’s use application was submitted to Italy which had been designated rapporteur Member State by Regulation (EC) No 1490/2002. Italy evaluated the additional data submitted by the applicant and reported to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and to the European Commission. The review result indicated that propargite could not perform reliable risk assessments for consumers, operators, workers and bystanders, and finalize the ecotoxicological risk assessment. In addition, a high long-term risk to mammals, a risk of secondary poisoning to birds and a high risk to aquatic organisms were identified.

An application for flufenoxuron’s use was submitted to France which had been designated rapporteur Member State by Regulation (EC) No 1490/2002. Flufenoxuron failed the consumer risk assessment because consumer exposure could not be assessed reliably, in particular, with respect to magnitude and toxicological relevance of different metabolites. Furthermore, flufenoxuron has a high potential for bioaccumulation in the food chain and offers a high risk to aquatic organisms.

Deleted from Annex I, propargite and flufenoxuron will be withdrawn by 31 December 2011. The products containing these active ingredients could be sold by 31 December 2012 at the latest.