Workshop on "Pesticide Risk Assessment and Phasing-out of Highly Hazardous Pestcides' holds
The Regional Workshop on "Practical Aspects of Pesticide Risk Assessment and Phasing-out of Highly Hazardous Pesticides' was held in Nanjing from May 19
th-22
nd, 2014. The Workshop was co-sponsored by Regional Representation of UN
Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO-RAP) and Asia Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC), and organized by
ICAMA.
Chen Youquan, Deputy Director General of Crop Production Department of MOA, Sui Pengfei, Director General of ICAMA, and Zhang Jianyong, Deputy Director General of Jiangsu Provincial Commission of Agriculture attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Piao Yongfan, Senior FAO Plant Protection Officer and Secretary of APPPC chaired the opening ceremony. Gu Baogen, Deputy Director General of ICAMA, was elected as the chairman and chaired the Workshop.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Sui stressed that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to safe pesticide manufacturing and use. In recent years, China reinforced its efforts in phasing out highly hazardous pesticides, and established a pesticide risk assessment system of Chinese characteristics. The progress in pesticide development and management should also accredit to the support from other countries in Asia and the Pacific and international organizations such as FAO.
Chen pointed out that China, as a big pesticide manufacturing and production country, will continue its international cooperation on pesticide management, and make its due contribution to a harmonized pesticide development in Asia and the Pacific.
It is reported that APPPC was established in 1956, and boasts of 25 member countries. It plays a leadership role in building pesticide management capacity in Asia by harmonizing pesticide regulatory management, phasing out highly toxic pesticides, cracking down fake and substandard products, managing pesticide import & export and pesticide common names.
The Workshop invited representatives from China, the United States and Sweden to exchange experiences related to the phasing out of highly hazardous pesticides, with emphasis on practical aspects of such phasing out. It is also decided to form an electronic working group on pesticide risk assessment for daily work and information exchange.
Over 40 participants from 16 Asian and the Pacific countries attended the Workshop. It is believed that the Workshop will further promote the capacity building of pesticide regulatory management and the phasing out of highly hazardous pesticides in Asian and the Pacific countries, and will further expand China's influence in the Region.
(Source: Division of International Exchange and Service, ICAMA)