. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/CAN/95
14 February 2001
(01-0690)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English/
French
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  CANADA
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  Department of Health
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where
applicable): Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or
practicable:  Ethylenebisdithiocarbamate fungicides
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Proposed Amendment to the Food
and Drug Regulations (1216 – Ethylenebisdithiocarbamate fungicides) (pages 439-442)
5. Description of content: Ethylenebisdithiocarbamate fungicides, including mancozeb,
maneb, metiram and zineb are registered under the Pest Control Products Act as fungicides
for the control of fungal diseases on various foods.  Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) have
been established under the Food and Drugs Act for residues of ethylenebisdithiocarbamate
fungicides resulting from this use at 7 parts per million (ppm) in apples, broccoli, Brussels
sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplants, endives, grapes, lettuce, mushrooms, green onions,pears and peppers, 5 ppm in celery, and 4 ppm in cucumbers and tomatoes.  By virtue of
subsection B.15.002(1) of the Food and Drug Regulation s, the MRL for other foods is
0.1 ppm.
The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), of Health Canada, has recently
approved an application to amend the registration of the ethylenebisdithiocarbamate
fungicide, mancozeb, in order to allow its use for the control of onion smut on dry onions at
seeding time.  This proposed regulatory amendment would establish an MRL for residuesof ethylenebisdithiocarbamate fungicides resulting from this use in dry onions, in order to
permit the sale of food containing these residues.
After the review of all available data, the PMRA has determined that an MRL for
ethylenebisdithiocarbamate fungicides of 0.5 ppm in dry onions would not pose an
unacceptable health risk to the public.
6. Objective and rationale: [  X ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [    ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:  This new MRL harmonizes with those
established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the United States Environmental
Protection Agency.
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available: Canada Gazette,
Part I, 10 February 2001 (Available in English and French)G/SPS/N/CAN/95
Page 2
9. Proposed date of adoption:  Not stated.
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  Not stated.
11. Final date for comments:  12 March 2001
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [     ] National notification
authority, [  X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:           
12. Texts available from: [     ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry point
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  The electronic
version of the Canada Gazette Part 1 can be downloaded at:
http://canada.gc.ca/gazette/part1/pdf/g1-13506.pdf