DIMETHOATE: Ban in France, Italy and Spain

Discussions are ongoing with the European Commission to decide on the use of dimethoate in Europe. A first meeting of the Commission and Members States last Friday led to a refusal by the Commission to implement an EU emergency measure regarding dimethoate.

France has therefore confirmed its position and warned that it would not issue any exemption for the use of dimethoate on cherries. Italy and Spain have adopted the same position.

France also indicated that it would use a National emergency measure to ban the import in France of cherries from countries using dimethoate.

These announcements follow the ban of all dimethoate-based products in France last February and the seizure of the European Commission by France end March so as to set up immediate measures for the ban of dimethoate in Europe on fruits and vegetables and for the ban of imported cherries from countries where the substance is authorised.

EFSA, seized in turn by the European Commission, published a statement early April.
Based on the supporting information provided by France and other relevant sources, EFSA concluded that the data were not sufficient to clearly exclude a consumer health risk. A comprehensive review of the existing EU MRLs was recommended to derive a final opinion on possible risks for consumers resulting from residues of dimethoate and its metabolites in food.
EFSA had established a list of data/information that would be required to address the identified gaps and indicated that some of the information required, in particular toxicological data on the relevant metabolites, may have already been submitted to the Rapporteur Member State (RMS) with the supplementary dossier for the renewal of Dimethoate. EFSA recommended to contact the RMS to verify if the required information is already available.

In France, a meeting will be held tomorrow at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry with cherry growers representatives to define the production strategy for this season, in particular concrete measures for the protection of cherries.

For download:

Press release from the French Ministry of Agriculture of 15 April 2016 : Lutte contre Drosophila Suzukii de la cerise : la France, l’Italie et l’Espagne n’autoriseront pas le diméthoate

Press release from the French Ministry of Agriculture of 11 April 2016: Lutte contre Drosophila Suzukii: l’avis rendu par l’EFSA pointe l’absence de données sur la santé des consommateurs dans le dossier du Diméthoate en traitement des cerises

EFSA Statement of 08 April 2016 : Assessment of the risk to human health through the pesticide active substance dimethoate and its metabolites in food

Press release from the French Ministry of Agriculture of 29 march 2016: Lutte contre Drosophila Suzukii de la cerise : Stephane LE FOLL saisit la Commission européenne