It is required that all the active ingredient(s) contained in the formulated pesticides should be registered with the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA) and the ai(s) shall be listed on the label of the products in China. However, doping of un-registered ingredient(s) into the formulated products is increasingly observed in China’s crop protection market, which poses as problem on food safety and pesticide resistances.
The Zhejiang branch of ICAMA has well-developed detecting methods of the anonymous ingredients contained in the formulated products. The branch investigated 1300 batches of formulated pesticides from 2010 to 2012 and detected that 101 of the samples contained anonymous ingredients.The branch pointed out that the insecticides with the emulsifiable concentration (EC) and “Emulsion in Water” (EW) types were mostly likely to contain the anonymous ingredients. The ais under patent-protection or having high efficacy/toxicity are most likely to be doped into the products. The major identified ais are: chlorantraniliprole (Trade Name: Rynaxypyr), fipronil, cabofuran, chlorpyrifos, isocarbophos, fenpropathrin and lambda-cyhalothrin, etc.
Under the draft of China’s new pesticide regulation, products doped with un-registered ai(s) will be regarded as the counterfeit pesticides and the manufacturers will be fined no less than 100,000 Yuan. As the ICAMA has repeatedly said that China will focus on cracking down on the anonymous ingredients in the future, Zhejiang’s measures would soon be followed by the entire nation.
Meanwhile, Zhejiang has offered fiscal support to products of minor-uses with the ICAMA applications. During the year of 2012, 28 applications from 17 pesticide companies have totally received special subsidies of 4,000,000 Yuan from the government. The applications are for the featured crops in Zhejiang, such as: zizania, bayberry, straw berry, Atractylodes macrocephala, Rhizoma Corydalis, Chrysanthemum, pecan and Phyllostachys praecox.
