Plant protection products purpose

Europe is divided into two zones for the purpose of registration of new plant protection products within its community. The trial location should fall within these two distinct zones, namely the Northern and Central European Zone and the Southern European and Mediterranean zone. The climatic conditions and weather influences within each of the two regions described are assumed to be comparable. However, trial data should be representative of the areas where pesticide use is to be granted. 

Within the EU, experimental human toxicity smdies must not be conducted specifically for the purpose of hazard assessment of biocides according to the EU Biocidal Product Directive (EC 1998), or pesticides according to the EU Plant Protection Product Directive (EC 1991). 

In all cases, the tests were originally developed for the regulatory approval of single compounds (usually plant protection products) and occasionally for effluent testing. This means that they were not intended for use in assessing contaminated soils. Despite this, these tests are now being more widely used for this purpose. Some of the tests are more readily adaptable than others. In particular, those that use the response of an aquatic animal or plant require sample manipulation that limits their relevance for contaminated soils. 

The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) (4) accepts spice as any dried plant product used primarily for seasoning purposes. This broad definition was designed so that items labeled only as spice could give adequate protection to proprietary formulas for spice mixtures. However, ASTA recommends that the dehydrated vegetables and the color spices be listed separately by name on all labels. ASTA also has recommended that the capsicums, no matter the species, be delisted as spices and labeled separately. 

Natural pesticides show promise for alleviating the pollution problem. Plants make some of these pesticides for their own protection, and bacteria synthesize others for purposes that are poorly understood. In spite of their promise, however, products based on natural pesticides have been on the market for years without much success, their major drawbacks being high cost and a reputation for unreliability. The present hope is that continuing research can... 

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