Yesterday, Regulation Minister David Seymour was in Invercargill, where he released the findings of a review governing the approval of new agricultural and horticultural products, alongside Environment Minister Penny Simmonds.
Ms Simmonds, the National MP for Invercargill, has ministerial oversight of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), which plays a key role in supervision of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) system.
The ministers said some farmers had reported waiting upwards of five years to receive approval from EPA or the Ministry of Primary Industries to use animal medicines and pesticides already in widespread use overseas.
The review, carried out late last year, contained 16 recommendations and Mr Seymour said Cabinet had agreed to them all. Those included:
- Using international regulators’ assessments of new products.
- Updating the EPA’s risk assessment models.
- Increased use of the HSNO system’s rapid approval provisions.
- Considering a strategic pathway for priority products.
The changes were intended to make the approval process swifter, but were not expected to come with an inherent increase in safety risks, Ms Simmonds said.
"It’s not about doing things faster to take short cuts, it’s about better use of tools we have got and making sure we prioritise what is going to be best for our industries."
The EPA would need to re-prioritise budgets and put more people into assessment roles.
Mr Seymour said the products were absolutely critical for farmers and growers.
It was estimated they could generate economic benefits of $272million over 20 years. The new system was predicted to half the consent process.
When asked if what that equated to in annual returns was worth the risk of a potentially dangerous product entering the market place, Mr Seymour said the existing system of having two organisations managing consenting had become unwieldy, confusing and disorganised.
"If can we spend a few million dollars on a review, reorganise how we do things and make $272m, that’s about a 100 times return on investment and I just wish we had a few more of those ideas."
The new system would include a sector leaders group so as to include the end users of the products in decision making, and better co-ordination between the consenting organisations, he said.
"Something already used overseas will be more easily able to be used here ... also, some of our chemical and biological modelling is out of date, so that we are overly conservative about letting things through."
Some of the changes will require legislative change and a Bill would be introduced soon, Mr Seymour said.
