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Current status and prospects of Positive List System (PLS) of Japan
On May 29, 2006, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) created a system which provided a list of positive agricultural chemicals found in foods. This system has been done to prohibit the distribution of foods that contain agricultural chemicals above certain allowable level if the maximum residue limits (MRLs) have not been established. The agricultural chemicals include pesticides, feed additives, and veterinary drugs. This system aims at prohibiting the distribution of foods that contain residues of agricultural chemicals above certain allowable level.
The Positive List allows 799 agricultural chemicals and provided guidelines for the use of those chemicals for products destined to Japan. Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) have been set for chemicals, and are usually expressed in parts per million. The MRL has been applied to pesticides, feed additives, and veterinary drugs that can remain in foods but are unlikely to pose adverse health effects when consumed.
Data are given to members on Positive List and MRL, including the Japanese inspection protocol, violation results, sampling levels, and issues to be aware of, have been summarized in a report done by MHLW.
Indeed, to implement the positive list, various measures were needed to secure the safety of agricultural products using pesticides. In other words, only the agricultural chemicals registered in Japan are manufactured, imported, sold and used. Pesticides that are not confirmed and registered by scientific evaluation for safety cannot be used.
Therefore, when applying for agricultural chemical registration, it is necessary to submit test results (animal test etc.) such as toxicity. (Pesticides that may remain in food crops) The tests are as follows:
● Acute toxicity test
● Examination to investigate the influence of toxicity over the medium to long-term
● Test to obtain information for coping with acute intoxication due to an accident at an occasion of spraying and accidental ingestion
● Information on the decomposition route of agricultural chemicals in the body of animals and plants and the structure of decomposition products etc. is grasped
● Examination of the influence in the environment
● Test on the persistence of agricultural crops
However, there are still remaining budget problems for pesticide enlargement registration tests for different kinds of crops. Thus, the pesticide registrations for the minor crops are serious tasks. As a general rule, the food classification adopted the Codex Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds. And though farmers cultivate their vegetables such as spinach and lettuce with no pesticide, the vegetables may still be affected by them because of some neighboring farmers spraying pesticides. This can lead to serious problems if pesticides are detected in vegetables. When the positive list was implemented for more than 10 years, this system is becoming more established in Japan but, various problems still remain and it is necessary to gather more information on pesticides.
