BROWSE
BROWSE: ‘Bystanders, Residents, Operators, WorkerS, Exposure, models for plant protection products
- Project Dates: 2011 - 2014
- Project Leader: Lynn Frewer (WP4)
- Staff: Steve Emery, Kyriaki Remondou, Sharron Kuznesof and Sophie Lewington
- Sponsors: EU FP7
- Partners: Project coordinated by Dr Andy Hart, The Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA, UK), University of Newcastle (UNEW, UK), Stiching Dienst Landbouwkunig Onderzoek (Alterra-PRI, Netherlands), Benaki Phytopathological Institute (BPI, Greece), The Arable
The BROWSE project was supported by the EU 7th Framework Programme and would:
- Review, improve and extend the models currently used in the risk assessment of plant protection products (PPPs) to evaluate the exposure of operators, workers, residents and bystanders.
- Use the new and improved exposure models to contribute to the implementation of Regulation 1107/2009 on authorisation of PPPs, replacing Directive 91/414/EC.
- Use the new and improved exposure models to contribute to the implementation of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides.
- Involve all relevant stakeholders and end-users and take full account of relevant gender issues in developing the exposure models and policy tools.
BROWSE was delivered by 7 interrelated work packages, including:
- Operator exposure
- Water exposure
- Resident and bystander exposure
- Stakeholder and gender issues
- Tools and guidance in support of EC Regulation 1107/2009 (replacing directive 91/414)
- Risk indicators and training materials in support of the Sustainable Use Directive
- Project management and dissemination.
Professor Lynn Frewer (Food and Society Group CRE/AFRD) at Newcastle University led work package 4 ‘Stakeholder and Gender Issues’. The objective of which was to include all relevant stakeholders an end-users and take full account of relevant gender issues in the development of new and improved assessment methods and policy tools addressing exposure of operators, workers, residents and bystanders to PPPs. This was achieved through four key sub objectives:
- To systematically involve all the key stakeholders and end users regarding their priorities for the scope, focus, objectives and priorities for the project, and their expectations for outcome
- To conduct surveys of operators, workers, residents and bystanders to obtain quantitative data on factors influencing their exposure, including gender and other socio-economic factors
- To test materials developed by the project for training and communication with selected groups from relevant stakeholder audiences
- To involve all key stakeholders in evaluating and fine-tuning the final project outputs in line with stakeholder needs and expectations.