TPPT continues ground-breaking work to protect the world's plant resources

The Technical Panel for Phytosanitary Treatments (TPPT) just ended their annual meeting in Vienna, Austria (17 - 21 July 2017). The meeting was hosted by the Joint FAO/International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and chaired by Mr Matthew Smith (Australia). The ten world experts on phytosanitary treatments (PTs) were joined by two Standards committee members: Mr David Opatowski (Israel), who is also steward of the panel, and Ms Marina Zlotina (USA), who is the Steward for the draft ISPM on Requirements for the use of modified atmosphere treatments as a phytosanitary measure (2014-006). In addition, two representatives from IAEA, Mr Carl Blackburn and Mr Rui Cardoso Pereira, participated in the meeting.

The TPPT is tasked with drafting five ISPMs on requirements for various phytosanitary treatments, reviewing and revising draft phytosanitary treatments for inclusion as annexes to ISPM 28 (Phytosanitary treatments for regulated pests), and dealing with any other issues pertaining to phytosanitary treatments.

Each of these tasks are significant, but this meeting was no different from previous ones and attested to the experts dedication and determinedness to carry out the mandate of the panel. In fact, the experts managed to draft the above mentioned draft ISPM (which will be submitted to the Standards Committee) and review seven PTs submitted in response to the call for phytosanitary treatments.

In addition, the panel revised two draft PTs currently in the TPPT portfolio:

• A draft heat treatment of wood using dielectric heating (2007-114) which had received an objection before CPM-12 (2017) in which additional information from the contracting party that submitted the objection is needed.
• A draft vapour heat treatment for Bactrocera dorsalis on Carica papaya (2009-109), which was pending additional scientific evidence regarding the possibility that this pest would respond differently to heat depending on which geographical region the pest was from. The TPPT reviewed recent studies carried out by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division and by the Research Center Yokohama, Japan, and concluded that there is no evidence to support that there are significant differences in vapour heat tolerance among populations of B. dorsalis from geographically separate regions. This is ground-breaking progress for the international harmonization of vapour heat treatments, which is an important phytosanitary measure used worldwide to prevent the entry and spread of regulated pests.

Lastly, the TPPT considered how to categorize PTs for a new search tool that the IPPC Secretariat is developing to search CPM adopted PTs as well as other nationally or regionally approved PTs. This will help those needing PTs to find suitable ones to help them prevent the unintentional movement of pests while expanding their trade.

The report from the TPPT July 2017 meeting will soon be publicly available here: https://www.ippc.int/en/core-activities/standards-setting/expert-drafting-groups/technical-panels/technical-panel-phytosanitary-treatments/ .