1st Meeting of the Resistance Panel on Plant Protection Products
PSD, York, 2006-11-06/07
The Working Party on Plant Protection Products has recognized a need for EPPO to develop and expand its activities on resistance to plant protection products. The ad hoc Panel on Resistance Risk Assessment was reconstituted and became a permanent Resistance Panel on Plant Protection Products with a terms of reference and new tasks to accomplish.
The 1st meeting of the Resistance Panel took place at the Pesticide Safety Directorate in York, on 2006-11-06/07. A brief overview of the resistance regulation in the UK, outlining the British approach to resistance management opened the meeting, followed by several presentations on current resistance issues in the UK. Thanks are due to Mrs Hoy, Mrs Mattock, Mr Richardson and Mr Macdonald for giving these presentations.
The aim of this first meeting was to set some clear goals and priorities for future work. The Panel saw several roles for this new EPPO Panel: as an important forum for the exchange and interpretation of information on resistance, to give warnings where resistance is developing, and to provide a good opportunity to develop effective management strategies and harmonize them where possible. The Panel also recognized the excellent work on resistance produced by various RACs (Resistance Action Committees) and emphasized the importance of avoiding any duplication of work.To obtain an inventory of the resistance expertise in the EPPO region, the Panel drafted the principle outline of the questionnnaire to be filled in by EPPO member countries on-line. The Secretariat will create EPPO webpage dedicated to resistance with the results of questionnaire and all the links possible.
It was decided that, among other things, EPPO should start organizing a series of small ad hoc workshops targeting current specific resistance cases in the EPPO region. The aim of these workshops will be to develop a collaborative approach to resistance management, to share knowledge, to identify gaps in knowledge and research needs, to avoid unnecessary duplication of work (e.g. resistance monitoring efforts) and to develop recommendations on resistance management for EPPO member countries. The pollen beetle, Meligethes spp., has been chosen for the first workshop to be organized in September.
A number of interesting projects are under study and will be developed further at the next meeting, which will take place in Sankt Petersburg (RU) 2007-09-19/21.