UN agencies update pesticide guidelines

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday released updated guidelines for countries on pesticide legislation and labelling, the deputy UN spokesman said here.

"Some 30 years after FAO first launched its International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, the agencies say that pesticide legislation formulated in the 1980s and 1990s needs a health check-up to ensure that countries are effectively protecting people and the environment," Farhan Haq said at a daily news briefing here.

"Globally, the use of pesticides has continued to grow: industry data suggest that the size of the global pesticide market has doubled over the past 15 years and currently exceeds 50 billion (U.S.) dollars in annual sales," Haq said.

"Despite the very significant progress achieved since the original promulgation of the Code, many national frameworks for managing pesticides are in need of upgrades to face today's challenges," Ren Wang, FAO assistant director-general for agriculture and consumer safety, said in a press release.

The revised guidelines explain in detail the elements of a sound national pesticide legal framework, serving as a reference point for governments who are reviewing or updating existing pesticide legislation or drafting it from scratch.

And an overhauled set of Guidelines is targeted to pesticide regulatory authorities -- primarily in developing countries and countries with economies in transition -- who are creating or revising national pesticide labelling requirements.

A critical element in protecting human health and avoiding negative environmental impacts, pesticide labels explain how to use products correctly and legally, describe potential hazards and precautionary measures, and give instructions on responding to poisonings or spills.

"FAO encourages all countries to take these guidelines into consideration when reviewing their current pesticide legislation and labelling regimes, with an aim to better protect human health and the environment and to make agriculture more sustainable," Wang said.

"The 1985 International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides helped bring much needed order to a 'Wild West situation,' in which many countries did not yet have legislation for the control of pesticides, and health- and environmental problems stemming from their misuse were rampant," noted Wang.

"Those who paid the steepest price were millions of poor farmers lacking access to information, training, and proper means of protection."

Today, nearly all countries have pesticide legislation in place and products generally are better labelled.

The most acutely toxic pesticides have been removed from the market in many countries, and alternative approaches to the use of chemicals in agriculture are increasingly becoming mainstream.

Yet despite this important progress, much remains to be done. FAO will be prioritizing support to countries to strengthen their capacity to enforce pesticide legislation and promote integrated pest management to reduce reliance on pesticides.

The agency will also provide guidance to governments to help them review their national list of authorized pesticides in order to identify highly hazardous pesticides that require special attention. Endit