Exosect, a leading provider of intelligent pest management solutions, has joined the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA) Straight Chain Lepidopteran Pheromones (SCLP) Registration Task Force.

IBMA is the worldwide association of biocontrol industries, producing microorganisms, macroorganisms, semiochemicals (including pheromones) and natural pesticides for plant protection and public health. It was created in 1995 to represent the views of biological control producers, such as manufacturers, research organisations, extension services, consultants and distributors, all contributing to the development of biocontrol and participating in IBMA activities.

Exosect managing director Martin Brown said: “Under the EU agricultural/plant protection directive 91/414, each active ingredient needs a separate Annex 1 listing in Europe and each product using the pheromone needs to be registered, meaning that every manufacturer has to provide separate registration dossiers for each product, even if in our case, we are just using the listed pheromones within our own products.”

David Cary, Exosect representative for the IBMA and the Task Force, said: “Now being part of the task force group, and with all the members working together, we have been able to submit one dossier between all the manufacturers for all SCLP pheromones, thereby sharing the cost of European registration and giving all members easy access to information on the listed pheromones. This will enable us all to register our crop protection products more efficiently for use across Europe.”

Robin Sheppard, Head of IBMA’s Semiochemicals Working Group and the Pheromones Task Force coordinator said: “We are delighted to welcome Exosect to the Task Force, and look forward to working with them to promote the concept of biological control methods in sustainable agriculture."

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