Agriculture, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Markets and Companies

"Fourteen plant protection products containing the said co-formulant have been registered in Estonia," Maris Raudsepp, head of the department for plant protection and fertilizers at the Agricultural Board, said on Friday.

The commercial names of the 14 products are Agro-Glyfo 360, Amega 360 SL, Klinik 360 SL, Barclay Barbarian 360, Dominator, Glyphomax, Glyfos Supreme, Glyphogan 360 SL, Master Gly 36T, Rodeo, Roundup FL 540, Rosate 36, Shyfo, and Symbol.

It is illegal to bring these products into Estonia from Aug. 22. In accordance with EU rules, these products can be sold during six more months from that date and used during 12 more months after that.

POE-tallowamine is a surfactant that enhances the activity of herbicides such as glyphosate. Surfactants in a herbicide product improve wettability of the hydrophobic surface of plants for maximum coverage and help the herbicide to penetrate through the plant surface.

In October 2015, the European Food Safety Authority communicated to the Commission its statement on the toxicological assessment of POE-tallowamine, which concluded that compared to glyphosate, a significant toxicity of POE-tallowamine was observed on all endpoints investigated. Additional concerns were highlighted as regards the potential of POE-tallowamine to negatively affect human health.