Proposed Maximum Residue Limit PMRL2012-32, Dimethomorph

Pest Management Regulatory Agency
13 June 2012
ISSN: 1925-0843 (PDF version)
Catalogue number: H113-24/2012-32E-PDF (PDF version)

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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 onions (Crop Group 3-07), leafy vegetables (Crop Groups 4 and 5), fruiting vegetables (Crop Group 8-09), grapes and hops to the product labels of Acrobat 50 WP Fungicide and Zampro Fungicide, containing technical grade dimethomorph, is acceptable. The specific uses approved in Canada are detailed on the labels of Acrobat 50 WP Fungicide and Zampro Fungicide, Pest Control Products Act Registration Number 27700 and 30321, respectively.

The evaluation of these dimethomorph applications indicated that the end-use products have merit and value and the human health and environmental risks associated with the new uses are acceptable. Details regarding the registrations can be found in the corresponding Evaluation Reports available in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website, under Public Registry, Pesticide Product Information Database.^{Footnote 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 be a concern to human health. This quantity is then legally established as a maximum residue limits (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 dimethomorph 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 in Canada in or on food, to be added to the MRL already legally established for dimethomorph, are as follows.

Table 1 - Proposed Maximum Residue Limits for Dimethomorph

Common Name	Residue Definition	MRL Table 1 footnote (ppm)	Food Commodity
Table 1 footnotes Table 1 footnote 1 = parts per million Return to table 1 footnote ppm referrer
Dimethomorph	(E,Z)-4-[3-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-oxo-2-propenyl]morpholine	40	Hops (dried)
		30	Leafy vegetables (Crop Group 4), leafy greens (Crop Subgroup 5B)
		15	Green onions (Crop Subgroup 3-07B)
		7.0	Raisins
		6.0	Head and stem Brassica (Crop Subgroup 5A)
		3.0	Fruiting vegetables (Crop Group 8-09), small fruit vine climbing, except fuzzy kiwifruit (Crop Subgroup 13-07F)
		0.6	Bulb onions (Crop Subgroup 3-07A)

MRLs are proposed for each commodity included in the listed crop groupings in accordance with the Residue Chemistry Crop Groups webpage in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website.

A complete list of all pesticide MRLs established in Canada, as of the date indicated, 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. Table 2 compares the MRLs proposed for dimethomorph in Canada with corresponding American tolerances and Codex MRLs.^{Footnote 2}

American tolerances are listed in the  Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 40 CFR Part 180, by pesticide. Note that the fruiting vegetable tolerance established in the United States is for Crop Group 8, which represents a subset of Crop Group 8-09 commodities in accordance with Update on the Status of the Revisions to the Residue Chemistry Crop Groups (DIR2010-01).

A listing of established Codex MRLs is available on the Codex Alimentarius Pesticide Residues in Food website.

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

Food Commodity	Canadian MRL (ppm)	American Tolerance (ppm)	Codex MRL (ppm)
Hops (dried)	40	60	80
Leafy vegetables (Crop Group 4)	30	30 (Vegetable, leafy (except Brassica) group 4)	10 (Head lettuce, corn salad)
		10 (Lettuce, head and Lettuce, leaf)
Leafy greens (Crop Subgroup 5B)	30	30	Not established
Green onions (Crop Subgroup 3-07B)	15	15	Not established
Raisins	7.0	7.0	5.0
Head and stem Brassica (Crop Subgroup 5A)	6.0	6.0	2.0 (Head cabbages)
			1.0 (Broccoli)
			0.02 (Kohlrabi)
Fruiting vegetables (Crop Group 8-09)	3.0	1.5 (Vegetable, fruiting, group 8)	1.0 (Fruiting vegetables)
			5.0 (Chili peppers, dry)
Small fruit vine climbing, except fuzzy kiwifruit (Crop Subgroup 13-07F)	3.0	3.0 (Grapes)	2.0 (Grapes)
Bulb onions (Crop Subgroup 3-07A)	0.6	0.6	Not established

Next Steps

The PMRA invites the public to submit written comments on the proposed MRLs for dimethomorph 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 dimethomorph and posting a corresponding Established Maximum Residue Limit document in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website.