Safe use of plant protection products
The sales packages and labels of plant protection products provide instructions on how to use of the products safely and prevent damage to health and the environment. Ensure safe use of plant protection products and follow the instructions for use on the sales packages and labels. The instructions are based on assessments made on health and environmental risks. You can check the up-to-date instructions on the Plant Protection Product Register.
If you use plant protection products professionally, you must acquire plant protection certification and have your plant protection application equipment regularly inspected. Professional users include farmers, employees working in green areas and golf greenkeepers. Some of the plant protection products can be acquired and they are safe to use even without having acquired plant protection certification. Some of the plant protection products are intended for professional use and others for consumer use as well.
The National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products is aimed at reducing the risks caused by the use of plant protection products. Professional users of plant protection products must select a control method that is the least harmful to human health and the environment. Alternative control methods include integrated pest management and ecological plant protection.
Get acquainted with the instructions for use of plant protection products on the sales packages and labels
- The hazard statements accompanying hazard pictograms specify what kind of health or environmental hazards the product may pose. A plant protection product may, for example, cause skin irritation or be very toxic to aquatic organisms.
- Precautionary statements give advise on safe use of the product, such as statements to store the product out of the reach of children.
The user group specifies which products are authorised for use by professional users.
- Products authorised for use by consumers do not bear such a marking.
- Link Products for professional and consumer use.
The purpose of use tells which plants the product can be used for and which pests it can be used against.
- It is not authorised to use the product against any other plants or pests than those listed under purpose of use.
- For more detailed list of uses, see under Instructions for use
The use of the product may be restricted under Restrictions of use.
- The waiting period tells how soon after the application of the product the crops can be harvested.
- For example, there may be restrictions on the time when the product can be applied on certain plants.
- Environmental damage can be prevented by such means as: restriction of use in groundwater areas, buffer zones along water bodies, pollinator protection instructions and restriction of consecutive application in the same parcel.
- There may also be recommendations for the product on how to protect vegetation outside the area of application.
- Store plant protection products in an appropriate manner. Dispose of any splashes, spraying residues and empty packages of plant protection products according to label instructions.
- Using the product is safe, when you wear personal protective equipment according to label instructions.
- The work hygiene-related waiting period tells how soon after each treatment it is safe to work again in, for example, a greenhouse.
- The mode of action of the plant protection product specifies on what way the product affects the pest. Pests can develop strains resistant to the plant protection product, in which case pest prevention can no longer be effected using the same or a similar product.
- Resistance management instructions give a classification for the mode of action of the active substance used in the product, as well as methods for preventing the development of resistant pest strains.
- Follow the instructions for use on the dosage and the times of treatment.
- The risks that the product poses to human health and the environment remain at an acceptable level when you follow the instructions for use.
- The notes provide instructions on such matters as: the product's tolerance of rain, damage caused to plants, and whether the product can be mixed with other products.
- You can use the four-digit registration number to search for the product in the Plant Protection Product Register.
Professional users of plant protection products shall, for at least 3 years, keep records of the plant protection products they use, containing the name of the plant protection product, the time and the dose of application, the area and the crop where the plant protection product was used.
Producers, suppliers, distributors, importers, and exporters of plant protection products shall keep records of the plant protection products they produce, import, export, store or place on the market for at least 5 years.
