FSP - Public Policies

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Browsing FSP - Public Policies by Subject "Biocontrol"

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    EU microbial pest control: A revolution in waiting
    (Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), 2022) Helepciuc, Florenta-Elena; Todor, Arpad
    Recent evaluations of the microbial biological control sector indicate that implementing microbial control of pests is still slow in the EU. The top causal factors are the lengthy, expensive, and cumbersome two-stage procedure for approval of biological agents as active substances at the EU level and authorization of formulated products at the national level, limited funding, lack of EU level integrated approaches, and slow implementation of integrated pest management. This article contributes to a better understanding of the factors that limit microbial control of pests in EU agriculture by providing the first evaluation of the evolution of microbial biological control agent (MBCA) EU-level approval combined with that of microbial biological control product (MBCP) national-level authorization, discusses recent trends in research and offers some policy recommendations. By 2020, the EU had caught up with the USA regarding research output, approved MBCAs, and MBCA approval procedures (first stage). Despite improvements from 2014 to 2019, the number of authorized MBCPs (second stage) has progressed slowly and unevenly across the EU. Significant progress is concentrated in countries with more extensive agricultural land and higher research intensity. The EUʼs focus on promoting more sustainable agriculture by increasing the availability of low-risk pesticides of biological origin as alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides has gained traction in recent years. Nevertheless, more efforts to improve the capacity and expertise of laggard EU Member States to contribute to the approval of MBCA, authorization of MBCP, and stimulating market availability are needed. Furthermore, we recommend introducing more concrete measures to promote the adoption of the microbial control of pests in the National Action Plans for the sustainable use of pesticides.
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    Improving the Authorization of Microbial Biological Control Products (MBCP) in the European Union within the EU Green Deal Framework
    (MPDI, 2022) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
    Developing sustainable agriculture by identifying non-chemical alternative Plant Protection Products (PPP) is a cornerstone in achieving long-sought environmental friendliness. Despite significant legislative and political efforts to promote biocontrol solutions and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the literature points out the disadvantages posed by European Union’s (EU) two-tier system for Microbial Biological Control Agents (MBCA) approval and subsequent Microbial Biological Control Products (MBCP) authorization by each EU Member State (MS). Despite the disadvantages, in a recent article, we showed that the EU had outcompeted the US and other countries in approved MBCA in the last decades; however, MBCP approval at the national level lags. Achieving the EU Green Deal’s aim set out in the ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’ to reduce the use and risk of pesticides by 50% by 2030 is difficult without developing viable alternatives. Why do we not have higher MBCP availability and usage in the EU? Is it the current legislation, its poor application, or some other factors? The current legislative framework stimulated MBCA approval. Thus, we compare MBCA approval and MBCP authorization procedure to evaluate if MBCP authorization is more difficult and thus causes a bottleneck. We find that requirements for MBCP authorization are unnecessarily more complex. We recommend simplifying the MBCP dossier requirements and making them as similar to MBCA as possible to accelerate the MBCP authorization in more EU MS to increase their availability and integration in agronomic crops’ pest management plans.