Global Zoning and Exchangeability of Field Trial Residues Between Zones: Are There Systematic Differences in Pesticide Residues Across Geographies?

Mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the global zoning concept using residue data from a comprehensive database of supervised field trials performed in various countries and regions on a variety of pesticide–crop combinations. No statistically significant systematic differences in pesticide residues were found between zones among the pesticide uses examined. In addition, we conducted a simulation to assess the impact of using regional versus global datasets for calculating maximum residue limits (MRLs). The conclusion of this assessment supports the concept of exchangeability of pesticide residue values across geographic regions and opens the possibility of improving harmonization of pesticide regulatory standards by establishing more globally aligned MRLs. Supplemental material for this article is available online.

本研究采用混合效应模型（mixed-effects models），依托多国多地区针对多种农药-作物组合开展的受控田间试验综合数据库所生成的残留数据，对全球区划概念进行评估。在所考察的农药使用场景中，不同区划间的农药残留未出现具有统计学显著性的系统性差异。此外，本研究开展了模拟实验，以评估使用区域数据集与全球数据集计算最大残留限量（maximum residue limits, MRLs）所带来的影响。本次评估的结论支持农药残留值在不同地理区域间的可互换性这一理念，并为通过制定更具全球统一性的最大残留限量，推动农药监管标准的协调统一提供了可能。本文的补充材料可在线获取。