China ICAMA Consults on 6 Pesticide Environmental Risk Assessment Draft Guidelines

6 guidelines were released for public consultation until 23 Oct: Aquatic Ecosystem simulation, terrestrial degradation, soil organism risk assessment, environmental risk assessment of microbial pesticide, degradation kinetics calculation and method validation for analysis in water and soil;
Two computerized evaluation models, China-PRAESS and China-PEARL will be widely used during the environmental risk assessment of aquatic ecosystems and soil organisms

On 23 Sep 2016, China ICAMA released 6 draft guidelines for pesticide environmental risk assessment and will solicit public opinion until 23 Oct. All guidelines are compiled as agricultural standards including:

3 test guidelines to assess pesticide environmental behavior and impact
2 guidelines on the validation, calculation and determination of degradation kinetics in environmental medium
1 consolidated guidance on the pesticide risk to soil organisms.

1 .Guideline for Outdoor Simulated Aquatic Ecosystem (Mesocosm)

The guideline is based on OECD Guidance No 53, “ Guidance on simulated freshwater lentic field tests (outdoor microcosms and mesocosms)”, which stipulates the material, condition, experimental design, performance, quality control, data processing and final report of simulated aquatic ecosystem study of pesticide.

2. Guideline for the Terrestrial Field Dissipation/Degradation Test

This guideline provides the preliminary requirements on the test items, material, plot selection, experimental design, procedures for pesticide dissipation/degradation study in terrestrial field, which is applicable to all chemical pesticides except granular formulation and slow-released formulation and referable by other product category.

3. Guidance on Risk to Soil Organisms

The guidance is combined with the first guidance document and 3 evaluation models and together will be used to evaluate the risk to soil organisms posed by chemical pesticide and biological pesticide with definite chemical structures. The predicted environmental concentration (PEC) of pesticides can be calculated by the evaluation models according to the assessment level , exposure scenario and a series of variables such as dosage, number, method and interval application, physical-chemical property, persistency, mobility and volatility of pesticide etc. The effect on soil organism can be predicted through toxicity data and/or high-level assessment such as litter bag test or field test on earthworm. Two of the evaluation models, the China-PRAESS and China-PEARL are available as computer software.

4. Test Guidelines for the Environmental Risk Assessment of Microbial Pesticide

The Guidelines provides the material, apparatus and procedures for the toxicity study of microbial pesticide on 6 non-target environmental organisms: avian, bee, silkworm, fish, daphnia and algae.

5. Guidelines on the Development and Validation of Analytical Methods for Pesticides in Soil and Water

The guideline will be applicable for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of active ingredient and its major metabolites in soil and water. The fundamentals and minimum standards on accuracy, recovery, precision, LOQ, selectivity of the analytical method is provided.

6. Guidance for Evaluating and Calculating Degradation Kinetics in Environmental Media

The dissipation of pesticides in environmental media includes the photolysis, hydrolysis in soil and water and other systems. 3 conventional kinetic models will be used to deduce the half-lives in different pathways, which determinate the necessity of further study during environmental risk assessment. The “Hockey-Stick” kinetic model can also be used to evaluate degradation kinetics if none of the 3 models are applicable.

The procedures of environmental risk assessment on pesticide have been rapidly established and implemented as requirements during pesticide registration and reevaluation, which add technical complexity to new pesticide registration applications and are accelerating the phase-out of existing high risk pesticides.

6 guidelines were released for public consultation until 23 Oct: Aquatic Ecosystem simulation, terrestrial degradation, soil organism risk assessment, environmental risk assessment of microbial pesticide, degradation kinetics calculation and method validation for analysis in water and soil;

Two computerized evaluation models, China-PRAESS and China-PEARL will be widely used during the environmental risk assessment of aquatic ecosystems and soil organisms