FARMING groups have got in behind CropLife Australia’s calls to reconsider a labelling regulation change on farm chemicals.
CropLife Australia, the peak body for the biotechnology industry in Australia, says proposed changes so Australia complies with the international Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) code are superfluous given Australia’s strong regulatory system for chemical registration.
It claims the changes will see the industry wear $58 million in compliance costs.
Chairman of Grain Producers Australia (GPA) Andrew Weidemann said increased regulatory costs inevitably led to costs being passed on to grower customers.
“We’re the final link in the chain, there’s nowhere for us to pass the higher costs onto.”
Mr Weidemann said he did not have an issue with higher costs if it created a better framework for the spray application sector, however he said the proposed changes did not add value.
“This just appears to be a duplication of something that is already done, I’d rather see the dollars spent on more research or more funding for bodies such as the APVMA (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority) or FSANZ (Food Safety Australia New Zealand).”
Dan Cooper, chairman of the NSW Farmers grains committee, said the changes were another example of excessive red tape costs.
“The government came to power talking about how it was going to rid the community of unnecessary red tape, yet here we are with more.”
“These sort of cost burdens are just ridiculous and unnecessary.”
He said the APVMA had conducted the relevant research and created suitable labelling in the product registration.
“This just does not need to be done again.”
Both Mr Cooper and Mr Weidemann said as spray applicators at the highest exposure to crop chemicals, safety was their first priority.
“These products have to be safe, but we have the most robust regulatory system in the world,” Mr Weidemann said.
“We obviously would not be doing anything to put ourselves, as farmers, in danger, but we have every faith the APVMA system is working.”
“Simply enforcing more labelling laws is not going to have any benefits for the industry.”