Approval for pesticide actives not extended

Chlorpropham, Dimethoate and Desmedipham lost approval.

The EU Commission has not renewed the approval of chlorpropham (Regulation 2019/989 of 17.06.2019) so that the active substance is no longer approved for food production in the EU member states as of 8.1.2020
Chlorpropham acts as a herbicide and growth regulator (CAS No. 101-21-3). The EU approval was valid until 31.07.2019. The active substance was approved at the national level in 26 member states. The period of use for preparations containing the active substance ends on 8.10.2020 at the latest.

The justification for the non-renewal was that a final assessment of the consumer risk associated with dietary intake could not be made due to several data gaps. The evaluators saw acute and chronic risks to the consumer due to the potential endocrine disrupting effect of the substance.

The EU Commission has not renewed the approval of dimethoate (Regulation 2019/1090 of 26.06.2019) so that the active substance is no longer approved for food production in the EU member states as of 17.1.202. Any use-by periods for PPPs containing dimethoate will end no later than 17 October 2019 for plant protection products for use on cherries and 17 July 2020 for plant protection products for use on other crops.

The Commission's explanatory memorandum states that the risk of exposure for consumers, users, workers, bystanders and residents could not be excluded and that there would also be a high risk for mammals, non-target arthropods and honey bees. As a rule, the maximum residue limits are also lowered after a ban.
Dimethoate acts as an insecticide/acaricide and is currently approved in 23 Member States.

For Desmedipham, the authorisation was also no longer renewed (Regulation 2019/1100 of 27.6.2019). By 1.1.2020 at the latest, the Member States will revoke the authorisation for plant protection preparations containing this active substance. The remaining stocks must be used up by 1.7.2020. One of the reasons given by the Commission for not renewing the authorisation is that it was not possible to exclude the exposure of consumers or farm animals to residues containing aniline (classified as mutagenic and carcinogenic). In addition, a high long-term risk for mammals was concluded. Desmedipham acts as an herbicide and has been authorised in 26 Member States to control weeds, e.g. in strawberry plantations.

Links: 

Chlorpropham: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/
Dimethoat: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2019/1090/oj
Desmedipham: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/

Author: Frank Mörsberger