Re-Registration Changes The Ag-Chem Landscape
10 December 2008 In an effort to remove older, less environmentally friendly chemistries and focus on modern products, three of the world’s most developed markets –the EU, the US, and Japan – all undertook programs to re-register pesticides from the past based on modern scientific standards. The US Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), Japan’s re-registration project, and the EU’s EC 91-414 all affected a number of products available to farmers, and limited their choices when it came to crop protection programs.
The end result has been a re-emphasis on softer chemistries and increased health and environmental safety, but it was not an easy transition for many in the industry. One of the problems of re-registration, particularly under the EU’s 91-414, was the cost associated with defending a product. Smaller manufacturers of post-patent products that were up for re-registration in some cases have not had the financial capital to pay to have the chemical re-tested. In many cases, the company that originally brought the product to market either already had more modern alternatives or simply didn’t believe that defending the molecule would provide enough return on the investment to justify the cost. According to some analysts, this has only served to limit the farmer’s ability to choose an older, less expensive product that may not pose environmental or health risks. At any rate, the result has caused changes not only for farmers, but for basic manufacturers, formulators, and traders who have seen their chemical businesses gutted of several molecules.
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