Canadian Food Inspection Agency
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Confined Release
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Proactive Disclosure
Terms and Conditions 2006
- The applicant must ensure that the trial seed and/or plant material are transported in clearly identified, secure
containers and are kept separate from other seed and/or plant material.
- Seeding, transplanting and site maintenance machinery and equipment must be cleaned at the trial site to prevent
dispersal of plant material. Surplus seed or seedlings, and any plant material remaining after transplantation, that is to be destroyed, will be
disposed of by autoclaving, burning, or burial at a depth of one metre. Composting of this material is not an acceptable destruction method.
- In the case of accidental release, recoverable seeds or seedlings must be collected and destroyed, the site must be
marked and monitored, and the PBO notified immediately. Plants from unrecoverable seed or seedlings must be mechanically or chemically
destroyed.
- Soybean plants in the trial must be reproductively isolated from other soybean by a minimum distance of 10 metres.
- Markers must be placed at all corners of the trial site to identify the confined field trial boundaries. The markers
(e.g. flags, corner posts, etc.) must be obvious, identifiable and in place for the
growing seasons of both the trial and the post-harvest restriction period.
- Distance measurements from permanent surrounding landmarks must be provided for precise location of the site. Also,
Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates must be taken precisely at all corners of each trial site. The GPS coordinates of each confined research field trial site location must be submitted to the PBO within 7 days after planting.
- If a chemical treatment is used on the trial site that requires a time until safe entry, a sign must be posted at the
access to the trial indicating the date and time of spraying as well as the time until safe entry. This condition is intended to protect the health
and safety of the CFIA inspection staff.
- No plant material from these trials may enter the human food or livestock feed chain unless approved by Health Canada or
the Feed Section, CFIA, respectively.
- During the trial growing season the trial site, including the surrounding isolation distance, must be monitored at least
once every two weeks to ensure that all related species are removed.
- Harvesting machinery and maintenance equipment must be cleaned of all residual plant material at the trial site prior to
being moved to other locations.
- Seed or other propagable plant material from the confined research field trial must be harvested unless otherwise
approved by the PBO.
- Plant material harvested from the confined research field trial, that is not to be retained, must be destroyed by
burning, autoclaving, or burial to a depth of one metre. Composting of this material is not an acceptable destruction method.
- Plant material harvested from the confined research field trial may only be retained if requested in the application and
authorized by the PBO. Any harvested seed and/or plant material must be clearly labelled, securely
transported, and stored separately from other seed and/or plant material.
- All non-propagable plant material remaining on the trial site must be soil incorporated or destroyed by incineration as
soon as possible after harvest. Applicants are encouraged to destroy all non-propagable plant material in a manner whereby the material is not easily
distributed by wind or local fauna yet does not promote seed dormancy. If the applicant decides to burn the plant material, incineration must be
complete.
- Applicants must provide the PBO in writing within 15 working days after harvest with information on:
- quantity of seed and/or plant material harvested at the trial sites
- date(s) of harvest
- quantity of seed and/or plant material disposed of
- location, method and date of disposal
- quantity of seed and/or plant material retained and stored
- storage location and method
Disposal of plant material (propagable and/or non-propagable) includes harvested plant material as well as residual plant material on the trial
site.
If a trial is destroyed prior to harvest, applicants must provide the PBO in writing within 15
working days after destruction with information on the trial's growth stage at the time of destruction, as well as the date and method of
destruction.
- The trial site, including a minimum 10 metre zone (50 metre if a large combine or combination was used during harvest)
around the trial site, must not be used to grow soybean for one year following harvest of the trial. During the post-trial growing season the trial
site, including the 10 metre zone, must be monitored, at a minimum, once every two weeks to ensure that all volunteer plants are removed before
flowering.
- A detailed trial log book must be kept. Records of the confined research field trial, including current season and
post-harvest site monitoring, activities related to the trial site compliance, cleaning of machinery, transportation, disposition and storage of all
surplus seed and harvested seed and plant material, must be maintained by the applicant and made available to the CFIA upon request. A report summarizing the completed trial and experimental data, including any
amendments to the original protocol, must also be made available to the CFIA upon request.
Detailed records requirements can be found in section 3.8 of Directive 2000-07.
- Applicants must notify the PBO in writing of crop species planted on
trial sites for each year the sites are subject to post-harvest restriction. This notification must be received every year by June 15.