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AgVetLink February 2004: Page 6

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INTERNATIONAL LIAISON

FSANZ visit

In November 2003, Sarah Lester (Technical Assessor, Plant Compounds) and Paul Dansted (Senior Advisor, Technical Policy) were hosted for a week-long visit to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) in Canberra. Although regulation of agricultural compound residues is outside the scope of the joint food standard-setting treaty with Australia, there are many similarities between our two countries' processes.

Tracy Hambridge and Robin Gannaway of FSANZ organised a series of meetings and training sessions on topics relating to Australian legislation, the FSANZ maximum residue limit (MRL) setting process, the DIAMOND database for dietary intake assessment modelling, and the Australian Total Diet Survey (methods, uses and the 'rolling' approach proposed in future). Initial talks on probabilistic modelling of dietary intake may lead to New Zealand joining FSANZ in investigating the feasibility of using this technique in future risk assessments.

Sarah and Paul also presented a talk on the New Zealand MRL process, which initiated much discussion on the streamlined nature of our process and the use of the 0.1 mg/ kg default MRL. This was well received because a 'hot' issue at present is the proposed harmonisation of the FSANZ and Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA) MRL processes.

APVMA visit

Sarah Lester, Technical Assessor in the plant compounds area, spent seven weeks at the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA) in October and November 2003, working with Raj Bhula, Trevor Doust and the residues team. As well as some concentrated time spent on pesticide residue assessments, dietary intake assessments and the Australian MRL approach, this was also a great opportunity to make valuable contacts in Australia and learn more about how the APVMA works in general.

The chemistry and residues team and the pesticides evaluators were very helpful and always willing to discuss common issues and our sometimes different approaches. The APVMA's 'minor use' seminar proved interesting, as did the field trip and discussions with various staff from other parts of the organisation.

The ACVM Group plans to reciprocate by inviting staff from APVMA to visit here in the future.

Workshop

John Reeve (Programme Manager, Toxicology and Residues) recently attended the International Workshop on the Harmonisation of Data Requirements and Evaluation of Pesticides in Seoul, and an OECD seminar on pesticide minor uses and risk reduction in Canberra.

John took the opportunity to present a poster in Seoul and he also gave a talk in Canberra on the ACVM Group's third party registration scheme. This is the scheme in which parties other than the proprietors of pesticides can generate suitable residue data so that an MRL can be set for a pesticide on minor crops. Then the minor (e.g. off-label) use can be officially registered under the ACVM Act and, if accepted by the proprietor, added to the label of the pesticide. Two such registrations have thus far gone through the new system, with the cooperation of both the growers and the proprietors.

The scheme can also be extended to additional uses for veterinary medicine products but to date all of the interest has been with plant compounds.

The presentations on the scheme were well received at both international fora, which were attended by regulators and pesticide users and proprietors from many countries.

Registrant's obligations to communicate changes

Product registrants have an obligation to communicate changes to their labels and registrations to those distributors and users who practically need to know. While the user or prescriber of a product has the responsibility to be familiar with label requirements, situations arise where an unheralded change to a product's conditions of registration may not be immediately recognised. Some changes are generic and may be communicated directly by the ACVM Group; however, in general, alterations to product specific requirements (such as revised withholding periods) rely on the registrant or their distributor to ensure traders, veterinarians, advisors or users are kept informed.