Report of the sixth WHOPES working group meeting : WHO/HQ, Geneva, 6-7 November 2002

Overview

The 6th WHOPES Working Group, the scientific committee to assist the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES) in the review of the reports of testing/evaluation of pesticides in the Scheme, was held in WHO/HQ, Geneva, from 6 to 7 November 2002.

The meeting was opened by Dr V. Kumar, Acting Director of Communicable Disease Control, Prevention and Eradication (CDS/CPE), who welcomed the participants and highlighted the role of vector control as an integral part of vector-borne disease management. He noted the need for safe and cost-effective insecticides for vector control and stressed the important role of WHOPES in supporting the Member States in this regard.

Dr L. Savioili, Coordinator, Strategy Development and Monitoring for Parasitic Diseases and Vector Control (CPE/PVC), also welcomed the participants and noted the increasing role of WHOPES, in recent years, in promoting the safe and effective application of pesticides in public health. He also noted the close collaboration of WHOPES with industry and other agencies in promoting appropriate pesticide management in public health.

Dr M. Zaim, Scientist in charge of WHOPES, reviewed the objectives of the meeting and informed the participants of the two products under evaluation – deltamethrin 25% WG (Bayer Environmental Science, Lyon, France – formerly Aventis Environmental Science, Germany) for indoor residual spraying against malaria vectors, and Agnique^® MMF mosquito larvicide and pupicide (Cognis Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio). He also noted that earlier recommendations of WHOPES relating to use of deltamethrin WP for indoor residual spraying is for review, in light of the new information which has become available.

Dr Zaim also informed the participants that this is the final activity in the phase III of WHOPES, as it relates to evaluation of deltamethrin WG and Agnique. The final stage, WHOPES phase IV, relates to development of specifications for quality control and international trade. He briefed participants on the joint activity with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on development of specifications and informed them of the development of the first edition of the Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO Specifications for Pesticides. He noted that this document supersedes all previous FAO and WHO publications on development and use of specifications. It details the standard process, unified requirements and procedures, harmonized definitions, nomenclature, technical guidelines and standards applicable to pesticides for use in agriculture and public health. FAO/WHO specifications for pesticides are now developed through the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Specifications (JMPS) and are based on the procedures provided in the Manual.

The meeting was attended by 9 scientists.Dr H.L. Lee was appointed as Chairman, and Dr P. Jambulingam, as Rapporteur. The meeting was convened in plenary sessions for comprehensive discussion on aspects relating to public health use of the above-mentioned products and divided in two small working groups to consider the results of the testing and evaluation of each product in detail. The reports of the safety nassessments of the International Programme on Chemical Safety, WHOPES supervised trials and relevant published literature, as well as the reports submitted by the national disease and vector control programmes were fully discussed and recommendations on the use of the above-mentioned products were made.