How are crop protection products approved?
All countries except Iran
1. Before selling crop protection products, they need to undergo strict evaluation by authorities for each country to ensure that they are safe for humans and have no unacceptable effects on the environment.
2. Hundreds of residue, toxicological, eco-toxicological, environmental, physical-chemical, and efficacy studies.
3. All this scientific information is compiled in a registration dossier, containing individual study reports, summaries and risk assessments, including proposals for risk mitigation.
4. These dossiers are submitted to regulatory authorities around the world who review the submitted data and risk assessments, and grant or deny approval of active substances and products based on their specific regulations and conclusions.
To decide whether a crop protection product is safe, multiple areas are investigated including:-
1. Dietary safety: Evaluates the exposure to the human population, including sensitive populations such as infants and children, from potential residues of chemicals in food and drinking water to ensure the levels are safe.
2. Toxicology: Studies the adverse effects of chemicals in mammals to assess potential effects in humans.
3. Environmental fate: Investigates the behavior, metabolism and distribution of substances in the environment (soil, water, groundwater, air).
4. Environmental effects: Assess the potential effects of chemical or biological agents to non-target organisms in the environment.
5. Occupational exposure: Evaluates exposure to workers resulting from the manufacture and use of chemicals and determines required personal protection equipment to ensure safety.
6. Product chemistry: Determines the physical chemical properties of a chemical (e.g. solubility, volatility, chemical reactivity) that are important to ensure safe storage, transport, use and disposal of a chemical.
7. Agronomic development: Evaluates how a product should be used in the field to ensure maximum efficiency and crop safety.
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