Chemicals in the News: Carbendazim
On this page:
Last updated 21 April 2010
What is carbendazim?
Carbendazim is a fungicide registered in Australia for the control of a wide range of fungal diseases such as mould, spot, mildew, scorch, rot and blight in a variety of crops.
There are currently 16 carbendazim products registered in Australia. In 2008-09 carbendazim product sales accounted for slightly over one percent of fungicide sales in Australia in that year.
Current registration status in Australia
Carbendazim is currently being reviewed because of occupational health and safety, residue and public health concerns. Regulatory decisions taken to date have restricted its uses and raised awareness of the risks it may present.
The APVMA commenced its review in 2007 following advice from the Office of Chemical Safety and Environmental Health (OCSEH) that exposure to carbendazim and its parent compounds could cause developmental abnormalities in experimental animals, and hence might pose a potential public and occupational health and safety risk to people. In initiating the review the APVMA addressed potential human health concerns by suspending the label approvals of carbendazim products and issuing new instructions for use. These new instructions provided revised safety directions for use of the product and a birth defects warning statement, to be attached to the container.
New restrictions currently in place
In January 2010, following consideration of advice in relation to both the human health and residues components of the review, the APVMA revoked the previous suspension and applied a new suspension that extended the warnings and amended the instructions of use.
These new instructions will effectively discontinue pre and post-harvest use of carbendazim on grapes, cucurbits and melons, citrus fruit, custard apple, mango, pome fruit, stone fruit and turf although a six month phase-out period will be allowed for any product in the supply chain at the time of the new suspension.
The new suspension instructions will also have the effect of restricting access to carbendazim products to suitably trained and competent people authorised to purchase and use Schedule 7 products.
Permitted uses of carbendazim
Carbendazim is currently permitted for use on bananas, strawberries, ginger seed pieces (pre-planting) , sugar cane setts (pre-planting), pasture, red clover and subterranean clover, chickpeas, faba beans, lentils, vetch, macadamias and in timber preservation. Under individual permit, carbendazim may also be used on onion bulbs post harvest for seed production only, and on mungbeans and mushrooms (once only per crop when preparing casing material from peat). Although carbendazim is permitted for these purposes, its actual use is believed to be limited.
The use of carbendazim in these crops and situations is still approved as there is no basis at this stage to conclude that these uses do not continue to meet the standards of the APVMA for continued approval.
The APVMA will release a preliminary review findings (PRF) report for a period of public comment once the assessment of all the data have been completed. The PRF will outline the proposed regulatory outcome for the future use of carbendazim.
The APVMA will issue a final report once it has considered the submissions to the PRF and any other new information.
For more detail see Carbendazim Review page.Registration status in other national jurisdictions
European Union
Carbendazim is currently registered in the European Union following a re-registration review (external site) in 2007 that found that carbendazim fulfilled safety requirements, and that there were no unacceptable effects on the environment when used according to directions.
United States of America
Carbendazim is registered in the United States for ornamental plants.
Canada
Carbendazim is currently registered in Canada following a re-evaluation in 2006 (external site). The risk assessment found that the use of carbendazim as a fungicide to control Dutch elm disease in elm species presented minimal risk to workers and the environment.
Evaluations by international agencies
WHO/FAO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR)
The JMPR evaluated the toxicology of carbendazim in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1985, 1995 and 2005. In its 2005 consideration of carbendazim, the JMPR noted that carbendazim is a developmental toxicant and teratogen (can cause malformations of an embryo or a foetus) in rats. JMPR set a lower health standard for women of childbearing age than for the general population (including children). It noted that an additional safety factor for the severity of effects was unnecessary since the underlying mechanism is clearly understood and there is a clear threshold for these effects. It further noted that there was no evidence for developmental toxicity or teratogenicity after administration of carbendazim with the diet - the effects only occurred after administration of large dose given directly into the stomach.
International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) of the WHO (IPCS)
In 1995, the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) of the WHO evaluated the toxicology of carbendazim. It concluded that carbendazim represented a very low risk for acute poisoning in humans. Given likely exposures and the low rate of dermal absorption of carbendazim, it was considered unlikely that it would cause systemic toxicity effects either in the general population or in occupationally-exposed subjects. These conclusions were drawn from animal data and limited human data, but were supported by the understanding of the mode of action of carbendazim.