Deadline: 30-Jul-21
The Cochran Fellowship Program is requesting the design and delivery of training activities for a special initiative Cochran Fellowship Program on the U.S. regulatory system covering pesticides and maximum residue limits (MRL).
The objective of this program is to help foreign regulatory officials widen their knowledge and understanding of the U.S. regulatory systems, as well as build support around risk-based approaches to pesticide policies and international standards. This program should assist Fellows in understanding the entirety of the U.S. pesticide system, and will provide an overview and insights on: critical private and public stakeholders involved in the use and regulation of pesticides; the U.S. regulatory system; pesticide registration; establishment of MRLs; domestic and import testing and surveillance; evidence-based risk analysis; risk-based vs hazard-based approaches; U.S. involvement in international fora, and international standard setting bodies, such as the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues.
Learning Objectives
The program will ensure that the fellows increase their knowledge in the following pesticide areas:
- Overview of U.S. Departments and Agencies involved in the U.S. pesticide regulatory system (Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, etc.)
- Coordination/communication/correlation between institutions that work on pesticide programs
- U.S. pesticide legal framework
- U.S. pesticide guidelines and standards
- Role of private sector in the U.S. regulatory system
- U.S. process for setting MRLs
- U.S. import tolerance program
- Generation of efficacy and residue data
- U.S. registration formats
- U.S. data requirements
- Emergency use regulations
- Risk assessment processes
- Biopesticide registration and use in the United States
- Sampling, monitoring and surveillance (domestic & imports)
- Lab diagnostics and Good Lab Practices (GLP) for pesticide residues
- Public/Non-Governmental Organization pesticide communications and public engagement
- Overview of the International Standard Setting Bodies related to pesticides and biopesticides
- Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR)
- World Trade Organization – Sanitary/Phyto-Sanitary Committee Engagement
- The benefits of a risk-based approach vs hazard-based and problems with the precautionary principle
- The European Union’s approach to regulating pesticides and ramifications for trading partners, including overviews of the International Trade Commission and USDA’s Economic Research Service reports
Funding Information
- Available Funding for the NOFO: Up to $300,000
- Projected Number of Awards: 1
- Period of Performance: 24 months
- Projected Period of Performance Start Date(s): September 1, 2021
- Projected Period of Performance End Date(s): August 30, 2023
Eligible Countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.
Eligibility Criteria
- State cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States.
- All applicants must have an active registration in the SAM database pending or expired registrants are not eligible. This requirement must be met by the closing date of the announcement and will not be waived.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=334343