Science Advisory Committee on Pest Control Products (SAC-PCP) - Meeting Summary

Inaugural meeting, Friday July 8^th, 2022, 1:00 to 6:00 pm EST

Virtual Meeting via Zoom

List of Participants

SAC-PCP Members

Dr. Valérie Langlois (co-chair)
Dr. Bruce Lanphear (co-chair)
Dr. Stéphane Bayen
Dr. Kyle Bobiwash
Dr. Eric Liberda
Dr. Christy Morrissey
Dr. Sean Prager
Dr. Xianming Zhang

Regrets

Dr. Maricor Arlos

Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) Executives

Peter Brander
Manon Bombardier

Secretariat

Shifawn O’Hara
Shannon Seguin
Stephanie Watson

PMRA presenters

Katie Calp
Martha Cunningham
Gillian Dawson
Lilian de Luna
Seynabou Diagne
Monika Engel
Bonnie MacLeod
Regi Mathew

Summary

• The purpose of this inaugural meeting was to provide an orientation session on the PMRA’s scientific approach to pesticides reviews and present the SAC-PCP members with their first charge question.
• A final Advisory Report on the recommendations of the SAC-PCP in response to the first charge question is expected to be submitted to the PMRA by September 6^th, 2022.

Welcome and Introductory Remarks

• PMRA’s Executive Director and Assistant Deputy Minister - Transformation welcomed participants to the inaugural meeting, thanked members for their commitment and membership, and outlined the importance of the Committee in strengthening PMRA’s regulatory decision-making process for all Canadians by providing independent scientific advice on specific scientific questions.

Roundtable Introductions, Co-chairs Address and Review of Affiliations

• The Committee co-chairs led introductions, and invited each member to declare whether there had been any changes in their affiliations and interests since their appointments. All members confirmed that their interests and affiliations had not changed, with the exception of an organizational name change for one Committee member. Committee members were reminded of the ongoing requirement to provide updated declarations and affiliations.
• The Committee co-chairs also welcomed the twelve (12) observers, and clarified that they may not participate in the discussions, either by speaking or by otherwise expressing their support for or disagreement with what is being said, unless specifically invited to do so by the co-chairs.

Terms of Reference

• The PMRA tabled the proposed amendments to the Terms of Reference, updated from the version posted online January 2022 during the call for nomination. No concerns were raised with the revised Terms of Reference. However, their adoption has been postponed to the next meeting.

Orientation

• Committee members received six (6) presentations on the pesticide regulatory process:
  • Pesticide Registration Process;
  • Chemistry Assessment;
  • Assessment of Human Health Risk;
  • Assessment of Environmental Risk;
  • Value Assessment; and,
  • Re-evaluation and Special Review.
• Following the presentations, question and discussion topics included:
  • the definition of science and the possibility of unconscious bias in the type of data considered in risk assessment; and,
  • clarifications and discussion on various aspects of the review process including the 15 year cycle for re-evaluations, timeline for the registration process and where the SAC-PCP committee may be involved, impurities, transformation products, chemical mixtures, multiple residues and ionized active ingredients, the treatment of new scientific evidence, consideration of cooking and food treatment in exposure assessments, use of safety margin, and differences between cancer versus non-cancer risk assessment.
• PMRA welcomed additional questions by email following the meeting and indicated that responses would be provided in writing.

Charge Question

• The SAC-PCP were presented their first official charge question:

“From a scientific point of view, are proposed eligibility criteria 1 and 2 sufficient to meet the goals of the authorization proposal?”

To be considered for authorization, the products must meet all of the following criteria:

1. With respect to health effects, the pest control product^{Footnote 1} or any of its derivatives, as the case may be, is not or does not contain a substance that:
   1. is chronically toxic under its intended use;
   2. is genotoxic, carcinogenic, neurotoxic or immunotoxic;
   3. causes reproductive or developmental effects; or
   4. bioaccumulates; and
2. With respect to environmental effects, the pest control product² or any of its derivatives, as the case may be, is not or does not contain a substance that:
   1. is chronically toxic under its intended use;
   2. causes reproductive or developmental effects;
   3. is persistent or, if persistent, is not toxic to human health or the environment under its intended use; or
   4. bioaccumulates; and
3. The active ingredient or the product is available to the public for non-pesticidal uses.

• The PMRA provided background information to members on the proposal and presented the charge question, which was discussed by the members.
• The Committee provided recommendations for how the proposed criteria should be written to ensure they would be properly understood, and PMRA provided several clarifications on the criteria.
• The SAC-PCP members were invited to submit any further questions to the PMRA’s ministerial authorizations team following the meeting.
• The Secretariat advised the members that a final Advisory Report is expected to the PMRA by September 6^th, 2022 (60 days following the July 8^th meeting as per the Terms of Reference).

Closing remarks

• The Executive Director of the PMRA thanked members for their participation, expressed the anticipation for the next meeting to occur in early Fall 2022, and adjourned the meeting.