Just before the start of the 20th meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC), we talked to Christine Fuell, Senior Technical Officer and Team Leader in FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP) and Executive Secretary ad interim of the Rotterdam Convention.
The Chemical Review Committee in a nutshell?
The Chemicals Review Committee (CRC) is composed of 31 government-designated experts in chemicals management, appointed by the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention, the highest authority of the Rotterdam Convention, which consists of all Parties to the Convention. The CRC includes members from different regions to ensure a balanced representation of developed and developing countries or countries with an economy in transition. However, members are not representing their countries but their expertise in the field of chemicals management.
The Committee reviews final regulatory actions (FRAs) related to pesticides and chemicals taken by parties to the Convention and notified to the Secretariat. These national bans or severe restrictions taken by parties must be based on a risk evaluation, and their aim must be the protection of human health or the environment.
What will this Chemical Review Committee meeting be about?
The 20th meeting of the Chemical Review Committee, on 17-20 September 2024 in Rome, is scheduled to review up to 33 notifications of final regulatory actions – a number never seen before! In addition, the Committee will also review four proposals for severely hazardous pesticide formulations. These are proposals made by developing countries or countries with an economy in transition that face significant health or environmental problems with these pesticide formulations under their specific conditions of use, including social, economic and climatic. And the Committee will also continue reviewing notifications of final regulatory action on chemicals such as carbaryl, chlorfenvinphos, ethion, methidathion and thiodicarb, which were discussed but not completed in the previous meeting. According to the Rules of Procedure, such items need to be again on the agenda of the next meeting.
Finally, the Committee will discuss draft decision guidance documents (DGDs) for chlorpyrifos and mercury, already recommended for listing in Annex III at the previous meeting. The expectation is to finalize these draft DGDs for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its 12th meeting (COP12) in May 2025, who will then decide on the listing in Annex III.
What about this pesticide chlorpyrifos to be discussed by COP in 2025?
Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate pesticide, an insecticide commonly used in agriculture to control pests on a variety of crops. It has been linked to adverse health effects, including neurodevelopmental issues in children and potential risks to farmworkers and wildlife. Various countries have taken regulatory actions to ban or severely restrict the use of chlorpyrifos.
The inclusion of chlorpyrifos in Annex III would make it subject to the so-called Prior Informed Consent or PIC procedure, enabling all Parties to take an informed decision on whether they want to use, and thus potentially import the pesticide. Such global cooperation aims to manage and mitigate risks, protecting both human health and the environment.
It’s going to be a busy week!
We will organize a session of an interactive game aimed at raising awareness on the objectives of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions developed by the Secretariat to loosen up a bit. The game introduces the topic of chemical safety to a younger audience and is based on the idea of escape games.
This will be the fun part of the meeting.