Science Advisory Committee on Pest Control Products (SAC-PCP) - Meeting Summary from October 20, 2022

Second meeting, Thursday October 20^th, 2022, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. EST

Virtual Meeting via Zoom

List of participants

SAC-PCP Members

• Dr. Valérie Langlois, PhD (co-chair)
• Dr. Bruce Lanphear, MD (co-chair)
• Dr. Maricor Arlos, PhD, MASc
• Dr. Kyle Bobiwash, PhD, MSc
• Dr. Christy Morrissey, PhD
• Dr. Sean Prager, PhD, BA
• Dr. Xianming Zhang, PhD, MSc

Community of Specialized Experts (CSE) invited member

• Dr. Rafikali Momin, PhD

Regrets

• Dr. Stéphane Bayen, PhD, MSc
• Dr. Eric Liberda, PhD, MASc, MES

Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) Executives

• Frédéric Bissonnette, PMRA's Acting Executive Director
• Manon Bombardier, Assistant Deputy Minister - Transformation
• Ruth Rancy, Director General, Policy and Operations Directorate

Secretariat

• Shifawn O'Hara
• Shannon Seguin
• Stephanie Watson
• Sophie Ziai

PMRA Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) Experts

• Isabelle Pilote (lead / presenter)
• Connie Moase
• Shiva Ghimire
• Suzan Mathew
• Christopher Marshall
• Nicole McKenzie
• Rebecca Yardley

Summary

• The purpose of this second meeting was to officially adopt the SAC-PCP Terms of Reference, provide a walk through of the Member Handbook and, present the Committee with their second official charge question.

Welcome and introductory remarks

• PMRA's Acting Executive Director and Assistant Deputy Minister - Transformation welcomed participants to the second meeting, thanked members for their commitment and contribution, and reiterated 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, in accordance with the Terms of Reference asked each member to declare whether there had been any changes in their affiliations and interests since the last meeting. All members (including the co-chairs) and the invited member of the CSE confirmed that their affiliations and interests had not changed since the last meeting except for one member whose affiliations and interests have been recently updated. Since those changes were not relevant to the mandate of the SAC-PCP they were not discussed further, but it was indicated they would be updated online. Committee members were reminded of the ongoing requirement to provide updated declarations and affiliations to the SAC-PCP Secretariat.
• The Committee co-chairs also welcomed the eight (8) 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 and they can only attend items on the agenda that are open to observers.

Terms of Reference

• The proposed revisions to the SAC-PCP Terms of Reference were presented and the Terms of Reference were officially adopted.

SAC-PCP Member Handbook

• The SAC-PCP Member Handbook summarizing the roles and responsibilities of the SAC-PCP co-chairs, SAC-PCP Committee members and members of the CSE, SAC-PCP Secretariat, technical writer and facilitator was presented.

Charge question

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

"What additional science information or explanation would be helpful to include in the draft PMRL consultation document to enable better stakeholder understanding of the scientific approach that is used to establish new or revised maximum residue limits (MRLs)?"

Question period and committee discussions

• The Committee members asked questions pertaining to the charge question, then began their discussion to begin formulating their recommendations. Topics of discussion included:
  • Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) terminology and alignment internationally;
  • Purpose of the proposed MRL(s) in the PMRL consultation documents;
  • Linkage between reference doses, risk and MRLs;
  • Other possible dietary risk elements to include; and
  • Other science review areas considered in pesticide registration (e.g., environmental assessment).

Closing remarks

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