IMPACT OF PROPOSED EUROPEAN PESTICIDE LEGISLATION ON BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AND INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

摘要

Implementation of proposed pesticide legislation,such as cut-off criteria and/or substitution could reduce the availability of registered plant protection products further,and especially insecticides in the EU.This would have a significant impact on the availability of fresh European fruit and vegetables.It would also impact the ability of growers to use the principles of integrated pest management,combining"selective use"of insecticides with available biological and non-chemical control techniques In certain situations,biological and non-chemical control,without the selective use of pesticides,is not sufficient to protect crops from pest damage,especially where:Pest pressure is too high for introduced biological control agents to prevent further crop damage;New pest species are introduced,or endemic species establish themselves as pests,as it takes from two to three years to identify and register the use of new biological control species;Hot climatic conditions favor rapid expansion of pest populations,which have the capacity to establish and damage crops,before biological control agents are able to bring them under control.It is,therefore,recommended that careful consideration should be given for the need to avoid further attrition of the already depleted European crop protection product portfolio.