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Addendum II: Castor Bean Plant (Ricinus communis L.)

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Any release of a plant with a novel trait into the environment in the absence of explicit authorization by the Director of the Field Crops Division, CFIA, is a contravention of Part V of the Seeds Regulations. Failure to comply with conditions of an authorized release is a contravention of Part V of the Seeds Regulations.

Entry Into Food and Feed

1. During trial growing season and post harvest restriction period, crops grown on the trial site and within 10 metres (50 metres if large combine was used during harvest) of the trial site, including products derived from them, may not enter the human food or livestock feed chain unless approved by Health Canada or the Animal Feed Division, CFIA, respectively. Furthermore, this area may not be used for livestock grazing during the same time period. The applicant must ensure that necessary steps are taken to prevent entry of the material into food or feed supply.

Transportation

2. The applicant must ensure that the trial seed and plant material, including seed and plant material to be planted, excess from transplantation and harvested seed and plant material, are transported in clearly identified, secure containers and are kept separate from other seed and plant material.

Training of Personnel

3. All persons handling seed or plant material must be informed about the toxic and allergenic nature of R. communis plant. The handlers must be trained in the handling, storage, disposal and transport of any plant material.

Informing By-Standers

4. The R. communis field trial must have a sign alerting that the plants are toxic to humans and animals.

Cleaning of Equipment

5. Seeding, transplanting, site maintenance and harvesting machinery and equipment must be cleaned of all residual plant material at the trial site prior to being moved to other locations to prevent dispersal of toxic plant material.

Trial Boundary Marking

6. The use of markers is strongly recommended. Markers should be placed at all corners of the trial site to identify the confined field trial boundaries. The markers (e.g. flags, corner posts, etc.) should be obvious, identifiable and in place for the growing seasons of both the trial and the post-harvest restriction period.

7. Distance measurements from permanent surrounding landmarks must be provided for precise location of the site. 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 seven (7) days after planting.

Harvesting and Seed Set

8. Plants must be harvested before full maturity to minimize shattering and seed dispersal. If seed set occurs, all seed and other propagable plant material from the confined research field trial must be harvested unless otherwise approved by the PBO (Please see section "Information to be Provided to the PBO").

Disposal

9. Surplus seed or seedlings, any plant material remaining after planting or transplantation that is to be destroyed, and all propagable plant material harvested from the confined research field trial that is not to be retained, must be disposed of by burning, autoclaving or burial at a depth of one metre. Composting of this material is not an acceptable destruction method.

10. All non-propagable plant material remaining on the trial site must be either 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, the material must be burned to ash.

11. If a trial is terminated prior to harvest, all plant material must be disposed of as described earlier in this section.

Storage

12. All seed and plant material including excess from planting and harvested seed and plant material, that is retained must be stored appropriately in clearly labelled and secure containers and kept separate from other seed and plant material. A secure container must be designed to minimize the potential for a spill or dissemination. Each container must be labelled with the minimum following information:

Monitoring

13. During the trial growing season, a 10 metre area around the trial site must be monitored at least once every four weeks to ensure that no R. communis plants are present outside of the trial site. Any R. communis volunteers must be removed before seed set.

14. After harvest and until no volunteers are observed for two consecutive years, the trial site, and a minimum 10 metre zone (50 metre if a large combine was used during harvest) around the trial site, are subject to monitoring. Monitoring must occur at least once every four weeks during a growing season to ensure that all R. communis volunteers are removed before seed set.

Accidental Release

15. In the case of accidental release of propagable material in the environment, 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 must be immediately destroyed (this can include mechanical or chemical means).

Records

16. 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 3.7 of Directive 2000-07.

Information to be Provided to the PBO

17. In the event of any accidental release of regulated material into the environment, the PBO must be notified immediately.

18.

a) Applicants must provide the following information to the PBO in writing within 15 working days after harvest:

*Disposal of plant material (propagable and non-propagable) includes harvested plant material as well as residual plant material left on the trial site.

b) If a trial is terminated prior to harvest, applicants must provide information on the trial's growth stage at the time of destruction, as well as the date and method of destruction, to the PBO in writing within 15 working days.

19. Applicants must notify the PBO in writing of the crop species planted on field trial sites for each year the sites are subject to post-harvest land use restrictions. This notification must be received every year by June 15.

Chemical Treatment On The Site

20. If a chemical treatment is used on the trial site that requires a temporary prohibition on entry into the site, 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.

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