On 27 June 2013, the New Zealand EPA released their decision on reassessment of organophosphate and carbamates-based (OPC) insecticides. The Committee decided that OPCs use in the indoor applications by unqualified user should be discontinued due to its inherent toxicity. For agricultural applications, their use should be allowed to continue with additional controls imposed to diminish the risk to people’s health and the environment.
The OPCs were assessed under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO) for the purpose of reassessing the OPC based insecticides used for plant protection purposes. In total, 88 HSNO approvals for 28 OPC active ingredients and plant protection formulations manufactured or imported in New Zealand have been reconsidered(Chemlinked News Released on 20 Feb 2013). 10 active ingredients and insecticides containing these active ingredients have had their approval revoked will no longer be manufactured or imported they include: benomyl, carbofuran, carbosulfan, dichlofenthion, ethion, famphur, isazofos, omethoate, phoxim and pyrazophos.
The manufacturing and import approvals of seven active ingredients and/or their formulated products will also be phased out according to the following schedule:
diazinon (1 July 2028);
fenamiphos, methamidophos, prothiofos and terbufos (1 July 2023);
fenitrothion and phorate (1 July 2016);
Other substances will be subject to additional controls, which will come into effect from 1 July 2015. They include: acephate, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos-methyl, dichlorvos, dimethoate, maldison (malathion), methomyl, oxamyl, pirimicarb, pirimiphos-methyl.
Apart from the default controls already in place on these approvals based their current hazard classification, additional controls should be applied to all insecticide that have been approved. These include:
Setting application parameters such as maximum application rates and frequencies;
Restricting the method of application such as prohibiting aerial application of some substances and restricting indoor application to automated methods;
A label statement to indicate that the substance is an OP or carbamate;
Label warnings of risks to bees;
Re-entry intervals;
Requiring users of OPCs to hold approved handler certification;
Details of the Committee’s evaluation and a list of controls applied to each substance that has been approved are set out in an Annex of the decision.
