Services

Introduction

AEIFORIA has born to accomplish with National and European regulatory requirements related to the authorization for the placing on the market and the use of chemical substances of agrochemical interest (plant protection products, fertilizers), of health interest (pharmaceuticals), of veterinary interest (veterinary drugs), of domestic and industrial interest (presidi medico chirurgici, biocides and detergents)  and with regulatory requirements related to the sustainable use of land  (Water Framework Directive, Directive on Soil, Marine Waters Directive, Urban Environments Directive, Landfills Directive).

In the first case, shortly, all the companies intending to produce and placing on the market these substances (notifiers) have to conduct studies able to prove the safe use according to procedures regulated by national regulation and European directives (see main reference regulations). Notifiers provide the documentation needed to the National (see National Consultative Board) and European authorities (EFSA, European Chemical Bureau and European Commission) that will conduct the appropriate evaluation.

In the second case, all the interest parties, in particular business men and administrators, have to accomplish to new control and autocontrol procedures, but also to move forward in a proactive way planning actions and economic and environmental measures.

The activity of AEIFORIA means to respond to this market needs providing services that are developed in two separate project packages, that, by different procedures, are managed by the company. The first package is related to all the monitoring activities and to the evaluation and analysis of risk under the conditions of use, the second to the responsible and sustainable management of processes and technological tools.

Monitoring, evaluation and analysis of risk

The specific directives establish procedures to provide the documentation needed for the chemical substances candidate to the use as active substances, formulations, mixture that have to be judged acceptable as far as regards human and animals health and the environment. The documentation is organized in registration dossiers, according to specific National and European Guidelines. The studies required are different and refer to specific directives, that specifies their content. Sometimes these guidelines are not present and ad hoc control and measurement programs have to be developed. It is clear that providing to all these requirements implies the need of conducting a high number of studies that AEIFORIA can perform, thanks to its experience, facilities, and networks.

AEIFORIA is provided also with fixed monitoring stations representative for the Po valley. As an example, a network of 10 field wells scattered in the Po valley with which is possible to conduct leaching studies in open field. These field-wells are provided with a set of piezometers, weather stations, groundwater level measurements and they allow the sampling of groundwater, soil and anything else required by the customers. The fields are provided also with hydro-geological measurements that allow to know the movement of water both as far as regards the direction and time. Moreover ad hoc scenarios have been developed, that allow to integrate the field studies with the modelling work.

AEIFORIA has quick access to a network of laboratories for the physical-chemical analyses and to a certified center for field studies and analyses. Briefly, in this sector AEIFORIA provides the following services:

• Valorization of portfolio of companies providing eco-compatible productive and marketing opportunities;
• Development of monitoring techniques of the quality of productive processes in relationships with the different landscape and economic traits of a specific area;
• Environmental pre and post authorization monitoring;
• Evaluation of life-cycle of manmade chemical substances foreseeing their environmental distribution;
• Evaluation and characterization of the risks for the environment and the living organisms related to the use and production of chemical substances and to anthropic activities;
• Provide data for the evaluation of the food safety related to the presence of residues of chemical substances in food and water;
• Increase the information on the environmental status and allow therefore an eco-compatible planning of the different activities in a specific area.

Stewardship

The clearest definition of product stewardship is derived from the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (Revised version) - Food and Agriculture Organization - Roma, 2003 Art. 2: Product stewardship means the responsible and ethical management of a pesticide product from its discovery through to its ultimate use and beyond.

Product stewardship is today crucial since all the chemical substances have to be used carefully, only during the prescribed times and in the quantities needed and for this reasons they are regulated by a strict authorization and control system. As a consequence,  the responsible management along all the life-cycle is a priority. An example is the thematic strategy on the sustainable use of plant protection products recently released by the European Community.

The stewardship can be extended to all the technological tools and productive processes through serious programs of company sustainability for productive sectors (as an example viticulture, rice culture, etc) and areas (PGIs, Hydro-geographic basins, etc).

In this field AEIFORIA provides the following services:

• Valorization of portfolio of companies providing eco-compatible productive and marketing opportunities;
• Development of effective and easy to be implemented mitigation techniques in relationships with the different landscape and economic traits of a specific area;
• To increase the information through communication and training of operators and consumers for more aware choices;
• About pollution a contribution to positive solutions directed to promote a new culture and  to the awakening the awareness of the key role of  professional capacity of productive sectors to couple the business with the environmental protection;
• To solve the causes of pollution and arrive to 2015 with a “good” state of the waters;
• sTo develop easy to use tools to identify the problem and suggest mitigation actions to the productive world, that allow to measure the implemented actions, in order to be able to provide incentives to the operators through a certification/remuneration system.