Risk mitigation – feasibility check
Many measures can be proposed to reduce the risk of a pesticide. While risk mitigation measures may be theoretically plausible, not all are realistic under the specific local conditions of use of the product to be registered.
Therefore, it should be assessed whether a risk mitigation measure can be realistically implemented under the proposed conditions of use in the country.
A registrar should in principle not require risk mitigation measures as part of the authorization of a pesticide if it is clear, or highly likely, that the measure cannot be put into practice.
Some examples:
mitigation measure: reduce the application rate
It is not feasible to require a reduced dose rate if the efficacy dossier has shown that the recommended dose is the minimum effective dose and cannot be reduced anymore.
mitigation measure: change the period of application
It may not be feasible to prohibit spraying during flowering of the crop, to protect bees, if the target pest attacks the flowers.
mitigation measure: require specific precautionary statements on the label
Many small-scale farmers may not be literate and warnings on the pesticide label may therefore not be effective. However, these may be effective when the pesticide is used by large-scale farmers who employ specialised staff.
mitigation measure: apply drift-reducing techniques
Certain risk reduction measures will require financial investments (e.g. drift-reducing nozzles, specialized personal protective equipment) which may not be affordable for smallholder farmers, but are feasible for larger commercial farmers
The Feasibility Check Tool allows you to evaluate whether the most important conditions are in place for risk mitigation measures to be feasible under the local conditions of use. The evaluation should be run with the specific pesticide product and associated use in mind. The outcome of the check is a list of risk mitigation measures, for a specific type of risk, that are marked as feasible, maybe feasible or not feasible for local situation.
Pesticide registrars should consider the outcomes of the Feasibility Check Tools as indicative and not as definitive! The outcomes of the tools should always be reviewed against the specific local conditions of use of the pesticide, before a final decision about feasibility of risk mitigation measures is taken.
Download Mitigation Measure Feasibility Check Tools (xlsm format) | ||
|---|---|---|
| | more protection goals to be added |
Occupational risks | Pollinator risks | (version 27/06/2017) |
Notes and how to use:
- Download the "Risk mitigation measure feasibility check" Microsoft Excel spreadsheet(s) to your PC.
Note that the spreadsheets are macro enabled (xlsm format) and might trigger security warnings which you can ignore. - Open the spreadsheet and click on [Enable Content] if a yellow "SECURITY WARNING Macros have been disabled" pops up below the toolbar ribbon.
- If all fails and you do not get the macros to work you can still enter the coded answers on the second tab sheet named "Input Evaluation of Conditions". See the legend on that page for the codes to use.
- Note that your answers are only stored on your own PC and that you should run the feasibility check for each specific combination of a product and use situation.
- Open the spreadsheet on the first page ("Questions")
- Starting with Question 1, click on the relevant answer (True, False, Not sure or not applicable) under Your answer.
- Then click [Next] , answer the next question and proceed this way until you have answered all questions.
- Click on [Check results] which will jump to page "Feasibiliy of Mitigation Msrs". Here you can check which measures are considered feasible based on you answers.
- If you want to keep your results then save the spreadsheet under a new name on your PC.
- You can reset all answers and start anew by clicking [Reset answer] on page "Questions".
While risk mitigation measures may be theoretically plausible, not all are realistic under the specific local conditions of use of the product to be registered!