May 7, 2002
The Environmental Risk Management Authority has made a decision on 1 May 2002 that there are grounds for the reassessment of clopyralid based herbicides. The applicant, Living Earth Limited applied to the Authority to determine whether grounds for reassessment exist under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act. There are legislated criteria for grounds of reassessment and in this case the criteria are that there is significant new information on the persistent effects of clopyralid in compost.
Clopyralid is the active ingredient used in a range of herbicides approved in New Zealand for the control of selected weeds in home gardens, turf, and agriculture. Clopyralid was first assessed and registered in New Zealand in 1984. There are currently seven registered products containing clopyralid.
The applicant, Living Earth Limited, converts organic waste into a range of growing media products, which are then marketed. The majority of this organic waste is sourced from green waste at landfills. Living Earth attests that clopyralid-treated plant material is being disposed of as part of the green waste and this is contaminating the resultant compost which, when used, can cause detrimental effects to a range of crops. Living Earth does not a hold a Registration for a clopyralid-based product, but has made this application because of the adverse effects that these herbicides are having on its own products and business.
Living Earth claim that the disposal of clopyralid treated plant material through either home or commercial scale composting systems has been shown to contaminate finished compost causing serious damage to a range of non-target crops. Clopyralid is a serious threat to the sustainable management of organic waste and in one case, has contaminated in excess of 100 000 cubic metres of compost. Clopyralid has been shown to be very persistent with little or no breakdown during composting.
The applicant, Living Earth Limited states that manufacturers and distributors of clopyralid-based herbicides have advised that there has been no significant increase in the volume of these herbicides used in home gardens or the agricultural sector. However, only a small amount of clopyralid-contaminated waste is required to cause significant adverse effects.
The reassessment under the HSNO Act is a two-step process. First, the Authority must agree that there are grounds for reassessment and secondly, once grounds have been established, any person may make an application for the reassessment of the substance. This is processed like any normal application under the HSNO Act. The 'grounds' process simply clears the way for a full application to possibly be made. It is a very simple process, which is mainly intended to ensure that a full application is justified.
If there is a subsequent application for reassessment, it will be notified to the public and open for submission for six weeks. At this stage there is no timeframe for receiving the reassessment application itself. The provision for reassessment is one of the most interesting and powerful provisions of the HSNO Act. It provides a mechanism to re-examine the risks, costs and benefits of any hazardous substance or new organism and to review the controls, which regulate the substance or organism. It also means that our ability to manage the risks of hazardous substances and new organisms in containment will be able to reflect changing circumstances and knowledge. It also provides an avenue for the community rather than the supplier of a substance, to take the initiative in raising concerns and having them dealt with. However, a reassessment will not necessarily lead to changes in controls. There could be instances where the conclusion is that the existing controls are still the most appropriate.
For further information contact:
Julie Watson
Communications Manager
Ph 021 674 954
The Environmental Risk Management Authority controls the introduction to New Zealand of new plants, animals and microorganisms (including genetically modified organisms GMOs), and hazardous substances by managing their adverse effects.