The use of a simple model for the regulatory environmental risk assessment of pesticides in Ethiopia

Pesticide registration in developing countries like Ethiopia is often not supported by substantiated risk assessment procedures. In this study, we evaluated the PRIMET (Pesticide Risks in the Tropics for Man, Environment and Trade) Registration_Ethiopia_1.1 model which is a tool developed to assess the risks to non-target protection goals. All the 103 registered active ingredients (a.i.) in Ethiopia, except those used for flower and storage pest control purposes, were evaluated on their environmental risks. Data on physico-chemical characteristics, toxicity and pesticide use patterns were mined from either the information given in the dossier or public databases. Together with scenarios specifically developed for Ethiopia, these data were used to perform a risk assessment for the aquatic and terrestrial environment as well as for vertebrates including humans via contaminated drinking water exposure. Results indicated that 11 and 16% of the a.i.s are indicated to pose high acute risk and 7.3 and 11% high chronic risks for fish and aquatic invertebrates, respectively. Similarly, 5.5 and 8.7% high acute risks and 6.8 and 3.9% high chronic risks were observed for the soil ecosystem and birds, respectively. 23% of the evaluated active ingredients were indicated to be highly risky to bees when beehives are present inside the sprayed crop while 7.8% of them are highly risky when beehives are present outside the field of the sprayed crop. The fungicide metalaxyl, the herbicides acetochlor, alachlor, mecoprop and tembotrion, and the insecticides carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon and methidathion were predicted to pose high acute or chronic risks to humans or other vertebrates if surface water is used as a source of drinking water. Future studies should give emphasis on how the risk assessment results of this study can be implemented to aid the registration process.