Bee Vectoring Technologies Granted Further Favorable Decision by US EPA: New Residue Tolerance Exemption for its Registered Active Ingredient CR-7

October 30, 2019 1:00 AM EDT | Source: Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.

  • EPA tolerance exemption indicates a high human safety with no expected adverse effect from dietary exposure
  • Unlike many chemical pesticides, there is no requirement to test crops for residual CR-7 since it is deemed safe and not grounds for post-harvest rejection
  • Tolerance exemption can mean a shorter time to market and greater flexibility for growers since they don't have to wait for residue test results before shipping their crop, or run the risk of it being rejected if they ship and a subsequent test shows there was a residue exceedance
  • This tolerance exemption significantly expands BVT's commercial opportunities as it applies to any registered end use product containing CR-7 whether applied using bees, as a foliar spray, a soil drench or as seed coating

Mississauga, Ontario and Sacramento, California--(Newsfile Corp. - October 30, 2019) - Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (TSXV: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (the "Company" or "BVT") announced today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) for Clonostachys rosea Strain CR-7 ("CR7"), BVT's proprietary beneficial microbe, and the active ingredient in its recently EPA-registered product, VECTORITE™ with CR7. Tolerance exempted products such as CR7 give growers an economic benefit by allowing them to capture greater value for their crop and/or by reducing the risk of an unplanned rejection with the U.S. government.

Most crop protection products on the market currently do not have this exemption and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as some food companies and supermarkets regularly test for pesticide residue levels on harvested crops. With this tolerance exemption, unlike with chemical pesticides, there is no requirement to test for residues of CR7 on harvested crops to see if they fall under an allowable limit. Residue tests can take several days, and if a grower waits for results before shipping, it can eat into the shelf life of the produce thus lowering the value of the crop. Alternately, if the crop is shipped without test results, the grower runs the risk of the crop being rejected if a test later shows that there was a residue exceedance.

Residue tolerances (also known as maximum residue limits, or MRLs) are established for crop protection products that pose a potential hazard to human health. Products without residue testing exemptions carry a risk that anywhere along the food value chain - wholesale distributors, market retailers, food companies selling packaged or processed foods, as well at the end consumer - a residue that falls outside the safety limit in a test could lead to product rejection and recall. All these stakeholders are increasingly concerned about chemical residue on food. In short this encourages growers to select products such as CR7 to apply to their crops to mitigate risk which in turn should accelerate adoption of the BVT system.

The tolerance exemption decision applies to all registered end-use products based on CR7. This includes VECTORITE with CR7 for delivery using bees, and future products currently in development by BVT for delivery via traditional foliar spray, soil drench or seed coating methods. The global fungicide market, which includes foliar and soil application is currently valued US$16 billion [1]. The global seed treatment market is valued at US$7 billion [2] and is expected to reach US$ 12 billion by 2024 [2].

"Exempting CR7 from testing for residue tolerances underscores the safety of CR7 and provides growers comfort that safety extends to their customers as well as farm workers," said Ashish Malik, CEO of Bee Vectoring Technologies. "This additional EPA ruling will also positively impact BVT's market expansion strategies which include registrations in other key global markets, sprayable product formulations, and uses on new crops where having zero tolerance is a key requirement, such as in cannabis."

The exemption applies to crops treated with CR7 that are grown and consumed in the U.S., as well as crops that are grown outside of the U.S. and subsequently imported into the country.

This tolerance exemption complements the recently announced EPA approval and OMRI organic certification for VECTORITE with CR-7.

The Company also reports that it has granted incentive stock options to certain members of the board of directors, management, staff and consultants entitling them to purchase up to 5,650,000 common shares at an exercise price of $0.31 per common share, pursuant to the Company's Stock Option Plan and subject to all regulatory approvals. The options are valid for a period of five years and will expire on October 30, 2024.

[1] Source: Phillips McDougall
[2] Source: Research and Markets

About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.

BVT, an agriculture technology company, is a market disruptor with a significant global market opportunity in the $240 billion crop protection and fertilizer market. BVT has pioneered a natural precision agriculture system that replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful plant protection product spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives to crops using commercially grown bees. BVT's technology, precision vectoring, is completely harmless to bees and allows minute amounts of naturally-derived pesticides (called biologicals) to be delivered directly to blooms, providing improved crop protection and yield results than traditional chemical pesticides - and improves the health of the soil, the microbiome and the environment. Currently, BVT has over 60 granted patents, over 30 patents pending in all major agricultural countries worldwide, and has US EPA registration of its VECTORITE™ with CR-7 (EPA Registration No. 90641-2) for sale as a registered biological fungicide for use on the labeled crops.

Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com

Contact:
Ashish Malik, President & CEO
marketing@beevt.com

Babak Pedram, Investor Relations
Virtus Advisory Group
Tel: 416-995-8651
bpedram@virtusadvisory.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, "annual revenue potential", are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: planted acres of strawberries in Florida, selling price of competitive chemical pesticides and the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, new technologies, the ability to protect intellectual property rights, the ability to obtain patent protection for products, third-party intellectual property infringement claims, regulatory changes affecting products, failing research and development activities, the ability to reach and sustain profitability, dependence on business and technical experts, the ability to effectively manage business operations and growth, issuance of debt, dilution of existing securities, volatility of publicly traded securities, potential conflicts of interest, unlikelihood of dividend payments, the potential costs stemming from defending third-party intellectual property infringement claims, the ability to secure relationships with manufacturers and purchasers, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Filing Statement dated May 29, 2015, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. All figures are in Canadian dollars.

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