Do not register the pesticide (or phase-out a registered pesticide) for some or all uses
Description of the measure
If the risk of a pesticide is unacceptable, the strictest risk reduction measure that can be taken is to refuse its registration, either for the high-risk uses or for all uses. The latter may be advisable if it is difficult, or impossible, to limit the use of the pesticide only to the authorized uses.
The regulatory authority may cancel the registration and phase out the existing uses of the product if the use of a registered pesticide has been considered unacceptable after a re-evaluation.
Conditions for effective implementation
Alternative lower risk pesticides or pest management options should be available against the pests for which the high-risk pesticide was intended to be used.
Estimated risk reduction potential
By not registering the pesticide, its risk is reduced by 100%.
However, the alternative for a high-risk pesticide will often be another pesticide although with a lower risk. The remaining risk of using the lower-risk product should be taken into account in such a case. The effective risk reduction potential of this measure will then be less than 100%.
Potential constraints
If the pesticide is replaced by a non-pesticide pest management option (e.g. biocontrol, cultural methods, mechanical control, new crop varieties), farmers or other users may require additional advice and training in the use of the new pest management method.
Furthermore, alternatives to a high-risk pesticide may be costlier. However, it should be stressed that the direct (purchasing) costs of an alternative may be higher, but the overall costs to farmers and society of the alternative may be similar or lower than the high-risk pesticide. This may be the case if the alternative has lower health and environmental costs, shows increased agricultural sustainability, does not require expensive disposal, etc.
Further information
More details about the process of phasing out highly hazardous pesticides can be found in the HHP module in the Toolkit.
Guidance on finding non-pesticide alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides can be found on the Alternatives pages under the Information Sources menu {INSERTLINK: to Alternatives page – later}