FIXATION OF MRLs IN TEA - INDIAN VIEW POINT

Abstract

In general, only pesticides, (that include insecticides, acaricides, fungicides and herbicides) can be used on tea only after they have been statutorily registered by the Central Insecticide Board, Government of India. For registration purpose, the manufacturers of the pesticides need to generate data not only on bio-efficacies, but also those concerned with environment and the amount of residues of the active ingredients left on the tea after it has been processed.
Of late, because of the global concern on the toxicological and residual problems implicit in the use of pesticides, data on ADI, human toxicity as well as environmental toxicity are a must. Different countries, particularly the tea importing countries, have their own statutory regulations as to the amount of residues of pesticides and other toxicological attributes that they would permit. These requirements would vary obviously from country to country depending on their locatins, ecology and food habits of the people. Hence, the need for a convergence of different aspects of toxicological and residual attributes of pesticides, based on tea, is not only essential but is also an imperative.
A point to note here is that good agricultural practices can reduce the hazards of pesticides use on tea but diverse data specially on eco-toxicological aspects have to be generated over a period ot time before a consensus could emerge.
Against this perspective, the TMRC, MIP and MRL proposed by different countries have to be harmonized so that a unified concept emerges that would be acceptable to both importing and the exporting countries.