21 November 2008
ISBN: 978-1-100-10791-2 (978-1-100-10792-9)
Cat. No.: H113-24/2008-36E (H113-24/2008-36E-PDF)

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Under the authority of the Pest Control Products Act, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has concluded that the addition of new uses on dry common beans to the product label of Frontier Herbicide, containing technical grade dimethenamid, is acceptable. The specific uses approved in Canada are detailed on the label of Frontier Herbicide, Pest Control Products Act Registration Number 23462.

The evaluation of this dimethenamid application indicated that the end-use product has merit and value and that the human health and environmental risks associated with the new use are acceptable. Details regarding these registrations can be found in the corresponding Evaluation Report that is available on the PMRA website, under Public Registry, Product Information, Current Applications.¹

Before registering a pesticide for food use in Canada, the PMRA must determine the quantity of residues that are likely to remain in or on the food when the pesticide is used according to label directions and that such residues will not pose an unacceptable health risk. This quantity is then legally established as a maximum residue limit (MRL). An MRL applies to the identified raw agricultural food commodity as well as to any processed food product that contains it, except where separate MRLs are specified for the raw agricultural commodity and a processed product made from it.

Consultation on the proposed MRLs for dimethenamid is being conducted via this document (see Next Steps).

To comply with Canada's international trade obligations, consultation on the proposed MRLs is also being conducted internationally by notifying the World Trade Organization, as coordinated by the Standards Council of Canada.

An MRL of 0.02 ppm is currently established for a limited number of dry common beans. The proposed MRLs for dimethenamid in Canada in or on food, to be added to those already legally established, are as follows.

Table 1 Proposed Maximum Residue Limits for Dimethenamid

Common Name	Residue Definition	MRL (ppm)	Food Commodity
Dimethenamid	2-chloro-N-(2,4-dimethyl-3-thienyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl)acetamide	0.02	Dry adzuki beans, dry beans, dry blackeyed peas, dry broad beans, dry catjang seed, dry chickpeas, dry guar seed, dry lablab beans, dry lentils, dry lima beans, dry moth beans, dry mung beans, dry navy beans, dry pink beans, dry pinto beans, dry rice beans, dry southern peas, dry tepary beans, dry urd beans, grain lupin

A complete list of all MRLs established in Canada can be found on the PMRA's MRL webpage.

International Situation and Trade Implications

MRLs may vary from one country to another for a number of reasons, including differences in pesticide use patterns and the locations of the field crop trials used to generate residue chemistry data. Table 2, the proposed MRL for dry beans in Canada differs from the corresponding tolerance established in the United States (tolerances listed in  40 CFR Part 180 by pesticide) Currently, Codex² MRLs have not been established for dimethenamid on dry beans ( Codex MRLs searchable by pesticide or commodity).

Table 2 Comparison of Canadian MRLs, American Tolerances and Codex MRLs

Food Commodity	Canadian MRL(ppm)	American Tolerance (ppm)	Codex MRL (ppm)
Dry beans as per Table 1	0.02	0.01*	No Codex MRL established

* Tolerance is established on "Bean, dry, seed".

Next Steps

The PMRA invites the public to submit written comments on the proposed MRLs for acequinocyl up to 75 days from the date of publication of this document. Please forward your comments to Publications (see contact information on the cover page of this document). The PMRA will consider all comments received before making a final decision on the proposed MRLs for acequinocyl and posting an Established Maximum Residue Limit (EMRL) document on the PMRA's website.

References