The
rancid remains
Dr
N Muraleedharan expounds on pesticide residues in tea, a concern that
continues to prevail in export markets, and lays down guidelines to
surmount the problem
Alimited
number of insecticides, miticides, fungicides and weedicides are applied
in tea fields, depending on the incidence of pests, diseases or weeds.
Application of these pesticides leaves traces on the tea leaves and
remains in the processed tea. These are called pesticide residues. Today,
180 pesticides are registered with the Central Insecticide Board (CIB)
of the Government. of India.
Most
of these pesticide molecules have been developed in Western countries
and the cost of developing and registering a new pesticide is estimated
to be more than $20 million. Registration implies the acceptance by
a competent authority of the extensive documented proof submitted in
support of all claims of safety and efficacy.
These
include data on acute and chronic toxicity to mammals, birds, fishes
and nontarget organisms, persistence in the soil and water, carcinogenicity,
mutagenicity, and others. Even though data on all these aspects have
been generated in a country, these will have to be generated again under
Indian conditions, if the pesticide is to be registered with the CIB
in India.
Another
important study relates to the generation of data on the maximum residue
limits (MRL) of a pesticide on an agricultural commodity or food item.
These field and laboratory experiments have to be carried out under
good agricultural practices (GAP) and good laboratory practices (GLP).
The MRL is expressed in ppm (parts per million).
Each
nation has the liberty to fix the MRL of each pesticide on each crop,
depending on the pest problem, agroclimatic conditions and agricultural
practices in that country. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
of the US has declared tolerance levels (MRLs) of different pesticides
for all the food commodities. So have Canada, Japan and European countries.
Apart
from these, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has also specified the
MRLs for different food commodities based on reports of supervised trials
and toxicological data. India too has declared the MRLs of different
pesticides on food commodities.
In India, MRLs are determined by the Central Insecticide Board and adopted
by a notification of undertaken by the PFA. Some of the pesticides registered
with the Central Insecticides Board for pest control in tea are ethion,
dicofol, endosulfan, propargite and sulphur.
Unfortunately,
there is no harmonisation in the presence of the MRL of pesticides in
different countries, leading to problems in trade. By a recent regulation,
2070/2002 in November 2002, the EC has withdrawn authorisation for the
use of more than 300 compounds in the member countries of EU.
This
regulation affects the Indian tea industry, mainly because of the withdrawal
of authorisation to use ethion, which is extensively used for mite pest
control in tea throughout India. It is also reported that the EU will
be withdrawing approval for another 120 compounds in the member countries
of EU by end of 2003.
In
view of the problems faced by the Indian tea industry due to new EU
regulations, an Indian delegation met the EU officials at Brussels.
The delegation, led by the Chairman, Tea Board had representatives of
the tea industry, Indian Tea Association (ITA), Upasi (United Planters
Association of South India) and the Tea Research Foundation. EU has
proposed a draft regulation for the European Parliament and the EU Council
to replace the four directives issued earlier on MRLs for plant protection
products.
Consequent
to this, all MRLs of plant protection products in EU countries will
come in to effect by December 2004. Wherever the data on MRLs is not
harmonised, temporary MRLs will be set, which will be revisited on a
case-by-case basis. The code of practice, Pesticide Residues in Tea,
published by the European Tea....
....CONTD
TO
READ FURTHER... SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR
COPY TODAY!!!
