RESIDUE AND ANALYTICAL ASPECTS
Fenarimol was reviewed as a new compound by the 1995 JMPR and a number of maximum residue levels were estimated. However, since no data were submitted to the FAO Panel on the environmental fate of fenarimol in soil, the 1995 Meeting decided that the estimated levels should be recommended only as temporary MRLs.
The current Meeting received a study demonstrating the storage stability of fenarimol residues in dried hops and agreed to recommend the maximum residue level of 5 mg/kg estimated by the 1995 Meeting as an MRL.
The Meeting also received information on the environmental fate of fenarimol in soil. The data indicated that fenarimol was degraded slowly in field conditions with a half-life typically exceeding 100 days. Photodegradation of the compound occurs, especially in water. Fenarimol has a low mobility in soil with almost all the residue associated with the top layer.
The Meeting was informed that no data on the uptake from soil by crops, the bioavailability of fenarimol residues in soil, or the residues in rotational crops were currently available.
The Meeting considered the data on environmental fate to be satisfactory and hence that the maximum residue levels estimated by the 1995 Meeting should now be recommended as MRLs.
FURTHER WORK OR INFORMATION
Desirable
1. Full details of the methods of analysis used in all the residue studies where this information was not given. Validation of the methods of analysis for which validation data were not submitted (repeated from 1995 JMPR).
2. Information on the melting point, octanol/water partition coefficient, solubility and specific gravity of pure fenarimol (repeated from 1995 JMPR).
3. Submission of the study reports supporting the trials on apples, gooseberries, currants, gherkins and strawberries conducted in The Netherlands (repeated from 1995 JMPR).
4. Submission of the study on residues in rotational crops which the Meeting was informed would be completed in 1997.
5. An investigation into the uptake of fenarimol residues into crops from soil and their transloction. If the data indicate that measurable residues could occur in rotational crops, then a study to assess the nature of the residues in representative rotational crops.
