The new draft guidance for birds and mammals from the perspective of practitioners.
CEA presented 17 posters and platforms at SETAC Copenhagen in May 2022. Over the coming weeks we will be showcasing each of these presentations in a series of ‘SETAC Spotlight’ articles. This week it is: The new draft guidance for birds and mammals from the perspective of practitioners.
Authors: Helena Crosland (CEA) and Anja Russ (tier3 solutions)
The risk to wild birds and mammals from applications of Plant Protection Products (PPPs) is assessed in a tiered approach which is regulated in the EFSA Guidance Document (GD). Several refinement options are available. The highest tier and most realistic refinement option is to conduct generic field studies and field effect studies. However, the GD gives hardly any guidance for this kind of studies besides that they have to be adjusted to the focal species, the crop, the season, and the concerns raised by lower tier results. Despite the valuable contribution of field studies to the risk assessment of PPPs, results and their interpretation have been repeatedly questioned as well as their general value for the risk assessment procedure.
In order to address deficiencies, incorporate new data, clarify technical points and issues previously discussed at technical meetings, a draft update to the current EFSA bird and mammal GD for plant protection products has recently been published. However, for several areas it is unclear on what scientific basis changes have been made. There are several examples in the new draft guidance document where a) it is not clear why a risk to birds or mammals is assumed; b) it is not clear what data, if any, supports a particular choice; and/or c) what the impact of this may be, for example what data may be required to prove the absence of a risk to birds and mammals.
For example, the main challenge of higher tier studies remains to persuasively demonstrate their suitability and representability. Therefore, the draft GD requests additional information for higher tier studies, such as landscape characteristics, recent and previous-year use of PPPs and agricultural activities at the study sites and neighbouring fields of similar crop, and the food availability at the studied crop and off-crop areas.
Here, we aim to review some of the specific changes in the bird and mammal draft update and discuss the potential impact of such changes from the practitioner’s point of view. Generic field studies and field effect studies are also discussed in light of the update. These still offer the most realistic approach to study the risk from PPPs if conducted appropriately.
The slides from this presentation are available for free download.
For further information about this work please contact Helena Crosland.