THE Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has run 896 tests on 16 agricultural chemical products to screen for potential contaminants, with September results coming back 100 per cent compliant.

APVMA chief executive officer, Dr Chris Parker, said the tests were part of the regulator’s comprehensive compliance and monitoring program that ensured registered chemical products continued to provide a safe and effective form of pest control for Australia’s agricultural industries.

“We tested a range of herbicides and insecticides for the presence of 56 chemical compounds and found all products were free of contaminants,” Dr Parker said.

“These results provide confidence to Australian farmers and the general public, that manufacturers are taking their responsibilities seriously and making products that comply with the registered formulation.

“Good manufacturing practice is built into the production of veterinary medicines supplied in Australia, and these results show consumers can expect the same quality assurance from companies making crop protection products.

“As the national regulator, the APVMA is all about protecting the health and safety of people, animals and the environment.

“Our compliance and enforcement program provides vital checks and balances that ensure registered products remain safe and effective and will work as intended. We’ll be testing more products over the following months.”

In August the APVMA issued the largest fines in its history for breaches of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994 relating to the supply of herbicides found to contain additional chemical actives other than those in the registered formulation.

“These fines, along with our testing program, show the APVMA treats issues affecting the quality of agricultural and veterinary chemicals seriously,” Dr Parker said.

The recent random sample conducted by the APVMA tested for 56 unique chemical compounds including ametryn, atrazine, diflufenican, MCPA, prometryn, simazine, s-metolachlor and thidiazuron.

All samples were found to match the registered chemical formulation.

Source: APVMA