12 March 2010
HC Pub: 100072
ISBN: 978-1-100-14406-1 (print version)
ISBN: 978-1-100-14407-8 (PDF version)
Catalogue number: H113-24/2010-20E (print version)
Catalogue number: H113-24/2010-20E-PDF (PDF version)

Help on accessing alternative formats, such as Portable Document Format (PDF), Microsoft Word and PowerPoint (PPT) files, can be obtained in the alternate format help section.

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 corn (field, pop, seed and sweet types) to the product labels of Matador 120 EC Insecticide and Warrior Insecticide, containing technical grade lambda-cyhalothrin, is acceptable. The specific uses approved in Canada are detailed on the labels of Matador 120 EC Insecticide and Warrior Insecticide, Pest Control Products Act Registration Numbers 24984 and 26837, respectively.

The evaluation of this lambda-cyhalothrin application indicated that the end-use product has merit and value and that the human health and environmental risks associated with the new uses are acceptable. Details regarding the registration can be found in the corresponding Evaluation Report that is available in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website, under Public Registry, Pesticide Product Information Database¹.

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 be a concern to human health. 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.

This MRL action proposes to add new MRLs on milk and poultry commodities, revise a number of currently established MRLs and revise the commodity descriptors for corn.

Consultation on the proposed MRLs for lambda-cyhalothrin is being conducted via this document (see Next Steps, the last section of this document).

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.

The proposed MRLs for lambda-cyhalothrin in Canada in or on food, to replace or be added to the MRLs already legally established are as follows.

Table 1 Proposed Maximum Residue Limits for Lambda-cyhalothrin

Common Name	Residue Definition	Food Commodity	Established MRL (ppm)	Proposed MRL (ppm)
Lambdacyhalothrin	((S)-α-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl (Z)-(1R,3R)-3-(2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-enyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate and (R)-α-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl (Z)-(1S,3S)-3-(2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-enyl)-2,2-diemthylcyclopropanecarboxylate, including the epimer, in a 1:1 mixture, (R)-α-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl (Z)-(1R, 3R)-3-(2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-enyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate and (S)-α-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl (Z)-(1S, 3S)-3-(2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-enyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate	New MRLs
		Milk	Not applicable	0.5
		Eggs; fat, meat and meat byproducts of poultry	Not applicable	0.01
		Revised MRLs
		Milk fat	1.0 (Milk; calculated on the fat content)	12
		Fat of cattle, goats, horses and sheep	1.0	5.0
		Fat of hogs	1.0	0.5
		Meat and meat byproducts of hogs	0.2	0.01
		Revised Commodity Descriptors*
		Field corn, popcorn grain, sweet corn kernels plus cob with husks removed	0.05 (Corn)	0.05

^* MRLs will be listed for individual corn types, replacing the same 0.05 ppm MRL currently established on "corn".

A complete list of all MRLs established in Canada can be found on the Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides webpage in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website.

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. For livestock commodities, differences in MRLs can also be due to different livestock feed items and practices.

As per Table 2, some of the proposed MRLs for lambda-cyhalothrin in Canada differ from the corresponding tolerances established in the United States (tolerances are listed in the  Electronic Code of Federal Regulations by pesticide).

Codex² MRLs are established for the unresolved isomeric mixture cyhalothrin but have not been established on the commodities covered under this action. A listing of all established Codex MRLs is available on the  Pesticide Residues in Food website.

Table 2 Comparison of Canadian MRLs, American Tolerances and Codex MRLs (where different)

Food Commodity	Canadian MRL (ppm)	American Tolerance (ppm)	Codex MRL (ppm)
Milk fat	12	10	No MRLs established
Milk	0.5	0.4 ("whole milk")
Fat of cattle, goats, horses and sheep	5.0	3.0
Fat of hogs	0.5	0.2
Meat byproducts of hogs	0.01	0.02
Fat of poultry	0.01	0.03

Next Steps

The PMRA invites the public to submit written comments on the proposed MRLs for lambda-cyhalothrin up to 75 days from the date of publication of this document. Please forward your comments to Publications. The PMRA will consider all comments received before making a final decision on the proposed MRLs for lambda-cyhalothrin and posting a corresponding Established Maximum Residue Limit in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website.