The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently published a scientific report on the ‘repair action’ of the FOCUS surface water scenarios (EFSA et al., 2020). The purpose of the ‘FOCUS Surface Water Repair Action’ was to prepare a scientific and technical report for updating the current FOCUS surface water report as well as update the supporting software tools – Surface WAter Scenarios Help (SWASH) including MACRO, PRZM and TOXSWA,. These developments are intended to support the evaluation of active substances of plant protection products in the EU under Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009.
We have prepared a brief summary of the 301 page EFSA report, providing an overview of the major changes to the FOCUS surface water scenarios, covering:
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the new 20-year assessment period,
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crop interception values,
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reassessment of the drift percentile approach,
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review of pesticide application timing (PAT),
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substance parameters depending on soil properties,
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dealing with rotational crops in aquatic exposure assessment,
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other changes to FOCUSsw scenarios,
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use and presentation of results of revised FOCUSsw scenarios, and
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comparison of old and revised FOCUSsw scenarios