There is intense pressure from the food industry to obtain alternatives to chemical pesticides. MASE´s industrial partner Findus is ready to use micro-organisms in the cultivation of all their entire line of pea products and wants to see this happen as soon as next year. And one objective of EU´s plant-life protection legislation is specifically designed to speed up the registration of new, more environmentally friendly pesticides. The new rules partly consist of a new EU decree on the approval of pesticides, and partly on a new framework directive on the use of sustainable pesticides. “The legislation is designed for chemical pesticides. The new legislation seeks to have control of both chemical and biological agents used for pest management. The result is both good and bad for us," says Christopher Folkeson Welch, Program Director for Mistra´s program MASE.During the 50´s and the 60's, inter alia, heavy metal preparations with devastating environmental and health effects were used. It is against this history that the EU legislation regarding plants formulated. EU's ambition now is to remove as many substances as possible that have a negative impact on health and environment or leave residues in the final products. In the new framework the principle of substitution is introduced. This means problematic agents are replaced with other more secure solutions or methods.
Streamlining
One of the hopes for EU's proposed new rules is the faster handling process in the registration of new pesticides. “In the new proposal the authorities have been given a limited evaluation period, which is very important," says Margaret Hökeberg, deputy program manager for MASE.
Another new aspect is the classification of pesticides known as “Low Risk." Here is where Christopher Folkeson Welch and Margaret Hökeberg hope the biological resources will end up. Low-risk agents will necessarily have a longer approval period than the "traditional" pesticides. At the same time, legislators are choosing to restrict severely the old option of getting a temporary permit during the evaluation period. That meant in the past a product could be sold on a limited market basis. This change in the rules can have negative consequences for smaller companies with limited research budgets on, for example, microorganisms.
“The biological pesticides are often researched and developed by small businesses, that depend on quickly getting out in the marketplace. The financiers are impatient and this is a bad combination," says Margaret Hökeberg.
The legislators have instead divided Europe into three zones. Within each zone, the states are given some discretion to approve a pesticide based on specific national circumstances. But particularly hazardous substances will not be accepted in this manner. Some work is still remaining in order to adjust the legislation to apply to micro-organisms. According to Margaret Hökeberg living organisms require other types of documentation, because they are not able to be characterized the same way as chemical compounds.
“This makes the regulators nervous. They have developed an additional document just for microorganisms. But it is still tricky. There is so much about methodology and which are the ecologically relevant issues for micro-organisms," says Margaret Hökeberg.
Intense pressure from the food industry
Pressure from food manufacturers is increasing for sustainable-produced food. Findus is participating in the MASE program and has an expressed policy to use the least amount of pesticides as possible in the wisest possible way. “To start using microorganisms instead of chemical pesticides is an important step in reducing the use of chemical pesticides. We have evaluated this for years and hope to get started on a full scale basis as early as next year. It really should be quite feasible," says Findus R & D head Åsa Josell.
When authorization is achieved the expressed desire is that microorganisms should be used in the cultivation of the whole line of Findus´ line of pea products.
Thus far, MASE and Findus had successful harvests of peas, spinach, dill and parsley. See the article "Increased harvest with the help of bacteria."
