Thursday, 30 July 2009

Metam soil disinfection authorization granted in the EU for the next coming 5 years.

On European Commission’s proposal, the Council of the European Union has adopted on July 13th a Decision that allows maintaining in force authorizations of plant protection products containing Metam until 31 December 2014.

Although it is a decision for non-inclusion of the active substance Metam in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC, the decision includes this favorable compromise granting Metam based product to be authorized for more than 5 years for essential uses. Please click here to consult a draft list of these essential uses per country.

This extended period will allow Taminco to prepare and submit confirmatory data that should answer the questions raised by the Commission in view of a future Annex I inclusion.

It must be noticed that this 5 year derogation period is exceptionally long and is an answer to the strong support of many Member States, represented by the Council, in favor of keeping up Metam in Europe.

• This strong support is the result of several facts that are in favor of the Metam dossier i.e.
• The comprehensive dossier of Metam generated by Taminco in full accordance with the standard guidance documents in vigour.
• After having thoroughly examined the dossier, the Rapporteur Member State proposed in September 2007 the inclusion of Metam in the Annex I
• The quite relative few concerns put forward by the Commission to justify a non-inclusion proposal.
• The accurate argumentation put forward in support of Metam by other EU authorities and many growers from several EU countries.

Taminco is committed to quality and safety for man and environment. This is implemented in a Taminco’ fully integrated strategy called T-Care. Based on the available data and expert assessments, safe uses for Metam are demonstrated.

Metam sodium is a soil disinfectant and a technical, economical and safe alternative to methyl bromide. It gives effective control of numerous nematodes, fungi and weeds prior to crop seeding or planting. In addition to its protective role Metam also helps to improve crop quality and yield by enhancing plant vigor. The use of Metam can reduce the needs for other plant protection products.

More information:

• For the full text of the Council decision, please click here
• For a draft list of these essential uses per country, please click here