Amphibians and reptiles have been until recently the only two vertebrate classes not directly considered in the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of pesticides. The risks posed by these products on amphibians and reptiles have been assumed to be covered by assessments conducted on other vertebrates. The European Union published in 2013 the two first regulations incorporating specifically amphibians and reptiles into pesticide ERA. Following this legal requirement, the competent EU agency, the European Food Safety Authority, published in February 2018 a scientific opinion reviewing the state of the science relative to pesticide ERA for amphibians and reptiles. The scientific opinion constitutes the basis for the future development of a guidance document that will detail the procedures to be followed for possible pesticide authorization. The scientific opinion highlighted the scarcity of knowledge and identified those aspects that should be addressed before the elaboration of the guidance document to guarantee a protective ERA for amphibians and reptiles while keeping vertebrate testing to a minimum. The Action PERIAMAR will establish a multidisciplinary network of scientists from research institutions, regulatory agencies, chemical industry, environment-focused NGOs, and research private business that will analyse the available information and design an ERA protocol for possible implementation in the future guidance document. In addition, networking, training and dissemination activities will contribute to create a critical mass capable to address those knowledge gaps requiring further research on the long term, in order to maintain an ERA scheme safe enough to protect amphibians and reptiles from pesticide impacts.
