Norwegian Environment Agency FOI reply lifts lid on banned neonicotinoid Imidacloprid

FOI reveals Environment Canada knew Ectosan (BMK08) was the banned neonicotinoid in May 2019 but @WeAreBenchmark were "not willing to send the information on their technology" @environmentca @miljodir @Legemiddelinfo @NFdep @Folketrygdfond @GovCanHealth https://t.co/Jo2DOhVTD6 pic.twitter.com/sfO2CrOHEz

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 25, 2021

Following a Freedom of Information request to the Norwegian Government (16 June 2021), here's a reply from the Norwegian Environment Agency dated 24 June 2021:

From: Inger Marie Haaland <inger.marie.haaland@miljodir.no>
Date: Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 2:12 PM
Subject: Sv: FOI re. Benchmark's CleanTreat & Ectosan/BMK08/Imidacloprid since 1 January 2016 (Innsynsrett & Miljøinformasjonsloven)
To: salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Cc: Innsyn <innsyn@miljodir.no>

Dear Mr. Staniford

We refer to your request regarding documents related to Benchmark and Ectosan, sent June the 16th.

The Norwegian Environment Agency has not been in contact with Benchmark. We have not received an application or made any decisions according to the environmental law for Benchmark and the use of Ectosan.

Benchmarks and Ectosan has been mentioned in email correspondence between the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet), the Norwegian Medicines Agency (Statens legemiddelverk), the County governor in Vestland and Environment and Climate Change Canada. These emails are included. Some of the information in these emails are restricted and are therefore censored (Censored text is marked). Restricted information regarding Ectosans active ingredient, the Celantreat technology and testing in Norway is described by the media and is therefore not censored (Cleantreat, Uttesting av nytt lusemiddel skaper støy i UK – FFE-redaktør intervjuet på BBC – Kyst.no, Vellykkede storskala feltforsøk med nytt lusemiddel – Kyst.no)

The collaboration group on delousing pharmaceuticals decided in their meeting on October the 25^th 2018 to schedule a meeting with Benchmark early in 2019. However, no meeting with Benchmark was held. (Members of the collaboration group were the Directorate of Fisheries, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the Norwegian Environment Agency. The group was shut down in 2019).

Regards
Inger Marie Haaland
Senior Adviser, Marine management and industries

Norwegian Environment Agency

Phone: +47 73 58 05 00
E-mail: inger.marie.haaland@miljodir.no

www.environmentagency.no – www.environment.no

The FOI disclosure by the Norwegian Environment Agency on 24 June 2021 included:

The Norwegian Food Safety Agency @InfoMattilsynet knew in April 2019 that Ectosan (re-named BMK08) was the banned neonicotinoid Imidacloprid @WeAreBenchmark @FerdOwner @HansBrattskar @NFdep @fiskeridir @miljodir @Legemiddelinfo
How much Norwegian salmon has been embalmed? pic.twitter.com/LQcy6FkAKk

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 25, 2021

Have Leroy or Scottish Sea Farms used the banned neonicotinoid Imidacloprid on salmon farms in Norway or Scotland? @LeroySeafood @scotseafarms @WeAreBenchmark @FerdOwner @HansBrattskar @NFdep @fiskeridir @InfoMattilsynet @miljodir @Legemiddelinfo @seafoodnorway @NorwayMFA pic.twitter.com/KfMyDsSwHu

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 25, 2021

Here's Scottish Salmon Watch's FOI request filed on 16 June 2021 with the Norwegian Government's Directorate of Fisheries (similar FOI requests were also sent to other Norwegian Government agencies as well as salmon farming companies including Mowi, Leroy, SalMar and Grieg Seafood – read online here):

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 12:36 PM
Subject: Fwd: FOI re. Benchmark's CleanTreat & Ectosan/BMK08/Imidacloprid since 1 January 2016 (Innsynsrett & Miljøinformasjonsloven)
To: Postmottak <postmottak@fiskeridir.no>

Please consider this a formal request for Information and request for environmental information under the relevant Norwegian legislation.

Please provide information on Benchmark's CleanTreat water purification system including field trials and any commercial use of Imidacloprid (marketed as Ectosan in 2017 and then re-named BMK08 in 2019 before being revealed in March 2020 as the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid – prior to 2017 it could have been called D10-Aquatic Blast or another secret trade name) since 1 January 2016.

A FOI request dated 20 March 2020 to various Norwegian Government agencies cited a news report in Fish Farmer magazine in February 2020 detailing how "over the last 24 months, more than 35,000 tonnes of salmon in five Norwegian farms have been treated with BMK08". Read article in full online via https://www.pressreader.com/uk/fish-farmer/20200211/282488595733006

Please therefore include in your FOI reply any documentation (e.g. emails, letters and other information) relating to the use – via field trials and other methods – of Imidacloprid since 1 January 2016.

Please include any environmental risk assessments, residue studies, ecological surveys, benthic impact research, water quality testing and any other environmental impact information even if heavily redacted.

Please include any results of field trials, testing, assessment and any other information submitted by Benchmark, Mowi, Leroy and other salmon farming companies.

Please include information on any discussions with the European Medicines Agency, the Scottish Government, Benchmark, Mowi and other salmon farming companies in relation to the use of CleanTreat and Imidacloprid (BMK08/Ectosan – or any other name used by Benchmark or another company) since 1 January 2016.

Please include any discussions with respect to an MRL (Maximum Residue Limit) of Imidacloprid in the flesh of farmed salmon and the recent European Parliamentary opposition.

This would certainly include the two clinical trials referenced via https://www.fiskeridir.no/Akvakultur/Tildeling-og-tillatelser/Saertillatelser/Forskningstillatelser/Alle-forskningstillatelsene

The above projects involving D-10 Aquatic Blast (Imidacloprid) were reported in the media in August 2020 via:

https://ilaks.no/vil-prove-ut-forbasert-lusemiddel-i-storskala-forsok-vi-tror-og-haper-pa-positivt-svar/

https://www.hblad.no/2020/nyheter/tjente-25-mill-i-fjor/

As context to this FOI request, Scottish Salmon Watch understands that Norway is subject to the legal requirements of FOI and Environmental Information law: https://ojs.imodev.org/index.php/RIGO/article/view/10/71

However, last year Scottish Salmon Watch filed a FOI request with the Norwegian Government which was not replied to; namely:

FOI request on Imidacloprid to Norwegian Government & Norwegian Food Safety Authority (17 March 2020)

When Scottish Salmon Watch pressed the Norwegian Medicines Agency the response was that the information was "considered to be confidential":

From: Tonje Høy <tonje.hoy@legemiddelverket.no>
Date: Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 3:58 PM
Subject: SV: Imidacloprid clinical trials approved by Norwegian Medicines Agency?
To: salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Dear Mr. Staniford,

Information about clinical trials with veterinary medicinal products, performed by pharmaceutical industry, is considered to be confidential information. According to the Norwegian act on medicinal products §30 the NoMA is not allowed to disclose information that is considered commercially sensitive. We can therefore not disclose whether permission to perform clinical trials with imidacloprid has been granted.

Right of appeal

You can appeal against this decision within 3 weeks after you have received this e-mail. The right to appeal is founded on the Public Administration Act, chapter 6 (VI).

An appeal should be sent to The Norwegian Medicines Authority. If we do not take the appeal into account, the appeal is forwarded to the Ministry of Health and Care Services.

Your appeal can be put forward as an e-mail/letter or using the form found on www.legemiddelverket.no. Choose the English version, and then the link “Appeal against an Administrative decision”.

Kind regards

Tonje Høy, DVM, PhD
Scientific Director, Veterinary Medicine
Telephone: (+47) 922 80 497
www.noma.no

However, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency have been forced to disclose "commercially confidential" information on CleanTreat and Imidacloprid (Ectosan/BMK08); namely:

https://donstaniford.com/wp-content/uploads/cleantreat-foi-disclosures-by-the-scottish-government-dec-2019.pdf

https://donstaniford.com/sepa-ordered-by-commissioner-to-disclose-commercially-confidential-information-on-cleantreat-bmk08-i/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-01398/

https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/202000275.aspx

A FOI disclosure by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to Scottish Salmon Watch on 7 June 2021 included:

Minutes of a meeting between Benchmark, the Scottish Government, SEPA and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in April 2019:

Here's another email obtained from SEPA via FOI on 7 June 2021 which references field trials in Norway:

Another email disclosed by SEPA via FOI on 7 June 2021 includes a timeline in relation to the use of CleanTreat with Ectosan (Imidacloprid/BMK08) since permission was granted for the first field trial in Norway in November 2016:

The above email states that the Norwegian field trials of Imidacloprid "were permitted in Norway with a level of discharge that appears to be above the EQS" [Environmental Quality Standard] which Scottish Salmon Watch suspects may breach EU law.

In any case, Scottish Salmon Watch is therefore asking for transparency and clarification from the Norwegian Government in relation to Imidacloprid use in salmon farming.

It is known via the trade press in 2016 that Salmo Pharma may have been the Norwegian company first involved in trialling Imidacloprid (perhaps then called D10-Aquatic Blast rather than Ectosan or BMK08): https://www.kyst.no/article/dette-er-det-nye-lusemiddelet-salmo-pharma-skal-teste-ut/

This June 2016 article – cited in Scottish Salmon Watch's FOI request of 17 March 2020 to the Norwegian Government – appears to identify companies involved in the first field trials of Imidacloprid in Norway:

Intrafish also appeared to report similar information via https://www.intrafish.no/nyheter/soker-to-fou-tillatelser-for-nytt-lusemiddel/1-1-766165

Apologies since I do not speak Norwegian and hence it is difficult to be sure. Hopefully your FOI reply can clarify things.

Via an 'Interpretation Request' from February 2019 published by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, we also know that Mowi Norway may have been involved in a field trial of Imidacloprid in Norway: https://www.asc-aqua.org/what-you-can-do/get-certified/variance-request-interpretation-platform/QA0066/

The owners of Scottish Sea Farms (Leroy and SalMar) may also be involved in field trials of Imidacloprid in Norway. A FOI disclosure by the Scottish Government in May 2021 included:

The Ferret reported last month (21 May 2021): "We are currently focused on launching our new sea lice solution, BMK08 and CleanTreat, in Norway".

You should be aware of recent opposition by the European Parliament to the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming – including specific mention of the lack of transparency:

Breaking News: Victory in Europe – Parliament votes against the use of the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid in farmed salmon!

Intrafish reported (13 June 2021): "The commercial launch remains subject to marketing authorization in Norway. Though Norway is not a member of the EU, it is part of the European Medicines Agency, and follows its approval processes closely"

Please provide a receipt/acknowledgment for this FOI request.

Please provide the information electronically.

If you need clarification please do not hesitate to contact me.

Takk,

Don Staniford

Director, Scottish Salmon Watch

Which salmon farms in Norway are being permitted by @fiskeridir to use the banned neonicotinoid Imidacloprid (D-10 Aquatic Blast)? https://t.co/sojgslu2Wk @seafoodnorway @UK_NSC @NFdep @fiskeribladet @IntraFishNorge @WeAreBenchmark @FerdOwner @NorwaySeafoodUS @Fiskeoppdrett pic.twitter.com/gO4Ge4JDZw

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 23, 2021

The Norwegian Medicines Agency replied (25 June 2021):

From: Tonje Høy <tonje.hoy@legemiddelverket.no>
Date: Fri, Jun 25, 2021 at 1:57 PM
Subject: Imidacloprid
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

To Mr. Don Staniford,

We refer to your e-mails of June 15^th and June 17^th 2021 requesting information regarding imidacloprid in Norwegian aquaculture.

No marketing authorisation for any veterinary medicinal product containing imidacloprid, and intended for treatment of sea lice infestations, has been granted in Norway.

The only legal use of the substance for sea lice treatment would therefore be in clinical trials. As previously stated, information on clinical trials cannot be disclosed as such information is considered business sensitive and therefore exempt from public disclosure.

With regard to purification/cleansing systems, the NoMA is not the competent authority for approval of such methods/systems.

Right of appeal
You can appeal against this decision within 3 weeks after you have received this e-mail. The right to appeal is founded on the Public Administration Act, chapter 6 (VI).An appeal should be sent to The Norwegian Medicines Authority. If we do not take the appeal into account, the appeal is forwarded to the Ministry of Health and Care Services. Your appeal can be put forward as an e-mail/letter or using the form found on www.legemiddelverket.no. Choose the English version, and then the link “Appeal against an Administrative decision”.

Kind regards

Tonje Høy, DVM, PhD
Scientific Director, Veterinary Medicine
Telephone: (+47) 922 80 497
www.noma.no