Risk Assessment Innovation for Low-Risk Pesticides (RATION)

Low-risk pesticides including biopesticides consisting of plant extracts, semiochemicals such as pheromones and allelochemicals, and microbial pesticides are gaining ground in the global market, where they have started to substitute synthetic pesticides. In addition, phages, protists, microbial consortia and double-stranded (ds)-RNA pesticides are emerging low-risk solutions that are expected to reach the market in coming years. There are ongoing regulatory efforts by the European Commission to establish specific risk assessment schemes for such low-risk pesticides (LRP) in order to enhance their market access in the context of the European Green Deal.

The research project ‘Risk Assessment Innovation for Low-Risk Pesticides’ (RATION) addresses these regulatory constraints and aims to support the development of targeted and research-based risk assessment schemes for various groups of LRPs, supported by the necessary guidance and tools for the implementation. RATION is funded by the European Commission as Research and Innovation Action (RIA) within the HORIZON cluster FARM2FORK.

RATION’s overall objective will be achieved through a series of interrelated work packages. In a first step, the current status of LRPs in Europe will be mapped and the main regulatory constraints identified. Subsequently, innovative risk assessment procedures for microbials, plant extracts, semiochemicals, pheromones and ds-RNA will be developed and validated. As final step, recommendations will be developed for harmonising risk assessment schemes for low-risk pesticides that build on available guidance and knowledge generated within the project. ECT as one of the 22 project partners of RATION contributes to mapping the current status of LRP risk assessments, to experimental testing, and to developing harmonised novel risk assessment procedures.

For more information, see the RATION website.