Australia has reassessed the pesticide Diazinon and may tighten controls on its use

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has issued a proposed decision to re-evaluate the use of the broad-spectrum insecticide Diazinon, potentially tightening or even removing some registrations and approvals that do not meet safety standards.

The review will look at all existing Diazinon active ingredients and related product registration and labeling approvals. The APVMA plans to retain at least one mode of use while removing relevant approvals that do not meet statutory safety, trade or labelling requirements. Additional conditions will also be updated for the remaining active ingredient approvals.

The public can provide feedback on the proposed decision during a three-month public comment period. Final results are expected to be announced on June 11, 2024.

Diazinon is a kind of broad-spectrum insecticide, which has contact, stomach poison, fumigation and certain absorption, and also has good mite and egg killing effect. The pesticide can be widely used in rice, wheat, cotton, citrus and other crops, and has a good control effect on most pests, with an effective period of more than 30 days. On October 27, 2017, the preliminary list of carcinogens published by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer was collated for reference, and Diazinon was in the list of Class 2A carcinogens.