Report of the OECD pesticide risk reduction steering group seminar "Pesticide risk reduction through better application technology"

The seminar considered opportunities for risk reduction through better pesticide application technologies. It considered a variety of technology options with such opportunities (e.g. equipment and techniques for reducing spray drift, technical requirements for spraying, establishing buffer zones, etc). While pesticide application technologies for agricultural use was the primary focus, the seminar also addressed municipal (e.g. for bio-security, mosquito control) and other non-agricultural sectors as they are also important in some OECD countries.The seminar considered the role of government and others in promoting innovations in modern, lower risk technologies and their adoption. Issues of safe handling closely related to application technology such as filling and cleaning of sprayers were also addressed. The seminar discussed areas such as minimum technical requirements, standards and certification for performance, maintenance and control of application equipment and technologies, and training and certification of workers and applicators. Regulatory requirements that address these areas, such as inspections of application equipment, were presented during the seminar. Also, voluntary measures such as guidelines addressing these technical requirements were reviewed.