EU bans Phosmet, active ingredient used as insecticide
On January 24th, Regulation 94/2022 was published, whereby a decision was taken concerning the NON-RENEWAL of the approval of the active substance Phosmet.
In addition, it calls for the adoption of the corresponding transitional measures, whereby Member States withdraw the authorizations of plant protection products containing the active substance Fosmet by 1 May 2022 at the latest.
Furthermore, that Regulation provides that any period of grace granted by Member States in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 shall expire on 1 November 2022 at the latest.
Phosmet is a non-systemic organophosphorus compound which acts by contact and ingestion as a cholinesterase inhibitor. It is a broad-spectrum insecticide applied against various pests (control of lepidopteran larvae, aphids, flies, spider mites, and other insects). Its efficacy on key pests of crops such as citrus, olive and fruit trees are widely proven by numerous trials, studies, and commercial use. In addition, this insecticide is authorized in several Integrated Production standards due to its favorable toxicological profile.
Phosmet presents Phthalimide1 as one of its degradation products, and Phthalimide is also a metabolite described within the Folpet residue definition, giving rise to frequent controversies, due to the inclusion of Folpet2 detections in pesticide residue reports, when the treatment applied in the field had been Fosmet and not Folpet. It is to be hoped that, by restricting the use of Fosmet, this will drastically reduce the detections of Phthalimide, and consequently reduce the reported residues of Folpet, and the inconveniences they usually entail, by the same proportion.
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1 “Phthalimid: Metabolite of Folpet or unaviodable Artefact. Relana paper, PP_16-03_Folpet-PI_vers20160722
2 Folpet (sum of folpet and phtalimide, expressed as folpet). Regulation (CE) n° 396/2005