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Vol. 32 No. 4
July-August 2010

IUPAC Wire | News and information on IUPAC, its fellows, and members organizations
See also www.iupac.org/indexes/News

Denis Hamilton to Receive the First International Award for Advances in Crop Protection Chemistry

The IUPAC Division on Chemistry and the Environment has established the IUPAC International Award for Advances in Harmonized Approaches to Crop Protection Chemistry, which will recognize individuals in government, intergovernmental organizations, industry, and academia who have exercised personal leadership for outstanding contributions to international harmonization for the regulation of crop protection chemistry. The award will be administered by the division’s Subcommittee on Crop Protection Chemistry, and will be presented on a biennial basis in conjunction with an IUPAC-sponsored conference or special symposium organized by IUPAC.

Nominations for the award will be solicited for receipt by December 1 of odd-numbered years, with the award to be made during even-numbered years. A call for nominations will be published in Chemistry International. Corporate sponsorship for the award has been arranged with Dow AgroSciences of Indianapolis, USA. Awardees will receive a USD 3000 honorarium plus meeting registration, travel, and per diem
reimbursement.

Rationale
Why is international harmonization for the regulation of crop protection chemistry an important goal to encourage? Historically, it has been common for regulatory authorities in each country to require unique safety and environmental studies, follow individualized testing schemes, and complete stand-alone evaluations for each new crop protection chemical or use—all of which have yielded great waste and redundancy. Today’s extensive batteries of chemistry, toxicology, ecological, and environmental studies may cost upwards of USD 200 million for each new active ingredient brought to market. The lack of standardization also creates an animal welfare issue since many more animals have to be tested when studies must be repeated in different countries. In addition, the lack of common standards creates trade barriers—in the sale of crop protection chemicals and of agricultural commodities bearing trace residue of these chemicals.

Although many governments and organizations are on record as promoting international regulatory harmonization and have endeavored to develop cooperation, there has been no formal mechanism in place for recognizing outstanding individual contributions toward the effort. The IUPAC award will fill this gap.

Denis Hamilton Announced as First Awardee
The first IUPAC International Award for Advances in Harmonized Approaches to Crop Protection Chemistry will be presented to Denis J. Hamilton, a chemist recently retired from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Australia, after more than 45 years of service. The award is to be presented on 7 July 2010 during a gala banquet organized as part of the 12th IUPAC International Congress of Pesticide Chemistry to be held in Melbourne, Australia <www.iupacicpc2010.org>.

Denis J. Hamilton will receive the first IUPAC International Award for Advances in Harmonized Approaches to Crop Protection Chemistry.

Hamilton joined DPI in 1963, and after some 20 years of laboratory experience with the analysis of pesticide residues in crop protection chemicals and in foods, he began a truly extraordinary, quarter-century of work on the international harmonization of crop protection chemistry regulation. He has served on the FAO Panel of Experts on Pesticide Residues in Food and the Environment within the JMPR (Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues) since 1986. The JMPR reviews data on pesticides and recommends Codex MRLs, the maximum residue limits for pesticides in food in international trade. He has also served since 1997 on the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Specifications (JMPS), which sets international quality specifications for pesticides to be used in agriculture and public health. With both JMPR and JMPS, Hamilton played leadership roles in organizing scientific panels, evaluations, and reports and in development of guidelines and novel assessment approaches.

From 1991 to 2009, Hamilton participated in IUPAC crop protection chemistry activities through the Commission on Agrochemicals and the Environment and its successor the Subcommittee on Crop Protection Chemistry. He led several successful IUPAC projects to completion, contributed to numerous others, and was a frequently invited keynote lecturer at IUPAC-sponsored conferences and workshops spanning the globe. It may be that Hamilton’s most enduring contribution will be expressed in the lives of the myriad chemists, regulatory officials, industry leaders, and researchers whom he collaborated with, lectured to, or trained.

For further information on the award, please contact Ken Racke
<[email protected]>.


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