Low-risk pesticides including biopesticides such as plant extracts, semiochemicals and microbial pesticides shall play a large role in substituting synthetic pesticides according to the Green Deal initiative of the European Union. Further low-risk solutions (phages, protists, microbial consortia, and double-stranded RNA pesticides) are expected to reach the market in the next years. There are ongoing efforts by the European Commission to establish specific risk assessment schemes for such low-risk pesticides (LRP).

The research project ‘Risk Assessment Innovation for Low-Risk Pesticides’ (RATION) aims to support the research-based development of specific risk assessment schemes for various groups of low-risk pesticides with the objective to enable increased market access of LRPs. RATION is funded by the European Commission as Research and Innovation Action within the HORIZON cluster FARM2FORK.

ECT as one of the RATION project partners contributes to (1) mapping the current status of LRP risk assessment schemes, to (2) experimental testing of the ecotoxicity of selected products, and to (3) developing recommendations for improved and harmonised risk assessment procedures.

For more information on RATION, see here.