QUEZON CITY | February 10, 2022 – Representatives from the FPA participated in the Local Practitioners’ Round Table Discussion on the Agrobiodiversity Component of the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP) organized by the Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PANAP) held on January 26-27, 2023 at Cocoon Boutique Hotel, Quezon City..

The team was composed of Maribel M. Querijero, Supervising Agriculturist; Mirasol O. Bacarisas, Officer in Charge – PMID; and, Mike P. Cuento, Agriculturist II. They provided inputs on the trends, concerns, and management of agricultural pesticides in the Asia Pacific, which served as one of the topics during the first day of the event.

Ms. Quijano reported that there are more than 500 unregistered pesticides present in the market globally without bioefficacy trials or testing, causing human illnesses such as autism and ADHD in children, and cancer.

Moreover, Ms. Querijero shared FPA’s mandate to ensure product efficacy and minimize the risk inherent in the use of pesticides to protect human health and the environment.

“As one of the food safety regulatory agencies of the Department of Agriculture (DA), we work for the farmers. For instance, we educate them about maximum residue levels (MRLs), post-harvest interval (PHI), and toxicity, among others, for them to make their crop produce safe for consumption,” Querijero added.

She enlightened the group that the active list of thirty (30) banned and nineteen (19) restricted pesticides as well as registered pesticides in the country can be found on the FPA website.

Likewise, she explained that FPA focuses on the regulation of agricultural pesticides while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in charge of regulating household pesticides. ###