Registration of a Plant Volatile-Based ttract and Kill Formulation for 'Helicoverpa' Spp. in Australia

In 2009 we registered a formulation of plant volatile compounds, sucrose (feeding stimulant), and various excipients including antioxidants, thickeners, emulsifiers and dyes, for use against the adult stages of the noctuid moths 'Helicoverpa armigera' and 'H. punctigera' in cotton, corn and beans. We believe it is the world's first such product approved for application to crops. The volatiles are nature-equivalent, but synthetically produced. This meant it could not be registered as a biological product, but was potentially eligible under a category including "commonly used household or industrial chemicals with a history of safe use", for which the registration requirements were less stringent than for novel active ingredients. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) determined that, for plant volatiles, the primary criterion or a history of safe use was inclusion in the Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) list of the Flavour and Extract Manufacturer's Association of the USA (FEMA). Excipient ingredients had to be food-grade. Farmers can add insecticides (methomyl, thiodicarb or spinosad) to make the product lethal to the target insects. These insecticides were already approved as conventional larvicides, and were efficacious for moths at concentrations below those resulting in registered active ingredient loads in the relevant crops. The impact of these requirements on the commercialisation of the product, and implications for developing similar plant volatile blends for pest management, were reviewed in 2010 and published in Australian Journal of Entomology.