Recently, the State Administration for Market Supervision and Administration and the National Standardization Administration have approved the issuance of a number of national standards for plant protection agricultural materials, including the release of the GB/T37500-2019 "Determination of Plant Growth Regulators in Fertilizers by High Performance Liquid Chromatography" standard. It is technical support to supervise the illegal act of adding plant growth regulators to fertilizers.

This standard applies to sodium nitrophenolate, 2.4-D, abscisic acid, naphthaleneacetic acid, forchlorfenuron, uniconazole, indole-3-acetic acid, Indolebutyric acid and other plant growth regulators which content has been determinated in fertilizers such as water-soluble fertilizers, compound fertilizers, compound mixed fertilizers, and bulk fertilizers.

The method detection limit and quantification limit of each target in the standard are respectively: sodium nitrophenolate 3mg/kg and 10mg/kg; 2.4-D5mg/kg and 10mg/kg; abscisic acid, naphthalene acetic acid, forchlorfenuron, olefinic acid Azole 3mg/kg and 10mg/kg; indole-3-acetic acid, indole -3- butyric acid 5mg/kg and 10mg/kg.

How to understand the practice of these standards? Taking sodium nitrophenolate as an example, when sodium nitrophenolate is added more than 3mg/kg, it can be determined by high performance liquid chromatography, a method measuring the specific sodium nitrophenolate content.

It is understood that there are many fertilizers added with plant growth regulators on the market, disrupting the market order and endangering the safety of crops.

Plant growth regulators are a class of substances that have similar physiological and biological effects as plant hormones. Compounds that have been found to regulate plant growth and development include diethyl aminoethyl hexanoate (DA-6), forchlorfenuron, sodium nitrophenolate, gibberellin, ethephon, brassinolide and paclobutrazol.

Plant growth regulators are pesticides, and they must be used in accordance with the dosage, period and method indicated on the approved registered label. The use of plant growth regulators generally does not cause harm to human health. However, if the use is not standardized, it may cause the crop to grow too fast, or the growth may be inhibited, causing even death. It will have a certain impact on the quality of agricultural products and bring in the end harm to human health on the long run.

According to the "Pesticide Management Regulations", as long as the fertilizer is added with a pesticide, the product is a pesticide, and it should be registered, produced, operated, used and supervised in accordance with the pesticide regulations. Failure to apply for a pesticide registration certificate means that it is a pesticide produced without obtaining a relevant registration certificates, or that the type of active ingredient contained in the pesticide does not match the active ingredient indicated on the pesticide label or manual, and it is determined to be a fake pesticide.

Regarding the production and operation of fake pesticides, the "Pesticide Management Regulations" also clearly stipulate that if pesticides are produced without a pesticide production license or fake pesticides are produced, the agricultural competent department of the local people's government at or above the county level shall order to stop the production, and the illegal income and production shall be confiscated. If the value of the illegally produced products is less than 10,000 yuan, and the value of the illegally produced products is less than 10,000 yuan, a fine of more than 50,000 yuan and less than 100,000 yuan shall be imposed. Shall the value of the goods be more than 10,000 yuan, it will be fined between 10 times and 20 times, the pesticide production license and the corresponding pesticide registration certificate shall be revoked by the issuing authority; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with the law.

Those who sell fake pesticides shall be ordered to stop the operation by the competent agricultural department of the local people’s government at or above the county level, and the illegal income, illegally operated pesticides and tools and equipment used for illegal operations shall be confiscated. Should the value of the illegally operated pesticides be less than 10,000 yuan, the imposed fine will correspond to not less than 5,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan. If the value of the goods is more than 10,000 yuan, a fine of 5 times to 10 times the value of the goods shall be imposed; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with the law.