3^rd Meeting of the Resistance Panel on Plant Protection Products

Eger, Hungary, 2008-09-15/17

The Resistance Panel on Plant Protection Products met in Eger on 2008-09-15/17. Special thanks are due to Ms Dula Bencene and her colleagues for their warm hospitability and fine organization of this meeting. The Panel was invited to a wine gastronomy dinner where they discovered the range of wines of the Dula Winery. The participants also took a technical visit to vineyards of the Tokaj region.

An overview of the problems of resistance in Hungary in relation with the different types of products were presented by Mrs Dula (fungicides), Mr Farkas (insecticides) and Mr Dancza (herbicides).

A regular topic on the agenda is the update from Resistance Action Committees (RACs) and Ms Salas from HRAC, Mr Nauen, Chairman of IRAC, and Mr Genet for FRAC  informed the Panel of the new developments in their respective committees. HRAC decided to set up a working group called EHRWG (European Herbicide Resistance Working Group) to focus on European problems. IRAC revised its Mode of Action Classification with a new version (Version 6.1) issued in August 2008. In early 2008, FRAC also revised its Code List by merging List 1 sorted by FRAC Code number or letter designation, and List 2 sorted by mode of action. 

The Panel was impressed by all the activities conducted by RACs and regretted that national authorities are no longer willing to invest resources in research on resistance and resistance management. The Panel was concerned that it may end up with a very unbalanced situation where the only available information comes from industry. 

The Panel discussed the organization of a future EPPO Workshop in 2009 on how EPPO could provide scientific guidance for the implementation of the new regulation (revision of EU Directive 91/414/EEC). The Panel also agreed that the workshop should aim at identifying elements where guidance is needed for the implementation of the revised plant protection Directive, including comparative risk assessment, substitution principles, sustainable resistance management, and implications for existing EPPO standards (e.g. on risk analysis, IPM) 

Several new documents prepared by the UK (on resistance warnings and restrictions on labels, and guidance document on the evidence required to support the registration of insecticide mixtures) were considered, but since they are delicate subjects they will be rediscussed again at the next meeting. 

The Panel will next meet on 29/30 September and 1st October in Izmir, Turkey.