Jenny Morgan, her husband, daughter, her baby
and 3 dogs were walking on holiday in the tourist village of Clovelly, Devon, on
20 March this year.
They came to a sharp bend in the road, and
saw a man spraying. There were no warning signs. According to the Health &
Safety Executive, who have since investigated the incident, the protective
clothing the man was wearing was inadequate. The road was wet from the spray,
and, because at this point the road ascends steeply from the sea, spray was
rising up towards other holiday-makers. Jenny estimates that as many as 50
people may have been exposed.
‘I was horrified,’ says Jenny. ‘I was
really angry. My family’s health was put at risk. It ruined our holiday.’
The HSE have informed Jenny that the
pesticide was Gallop, a formulation of glyphosate not licensed for use in
non-crop areas. Gallop, manufactured by Barclay Chemicals, is an agricultural
herbicide n-phosphonomethyl-glycine, another name for glyphosate.
When Jenny tried to make an appointment with
her GP so that the incident could, at least, be recorded in her notes in case
she develops longer-term problems, the surgery receptionist, hearing what had
happened, declined to give her one, saying that nothing could be done since the
incident had passed.
It has emerged that, as the local District
Council are the land-owner of the roadway, the enforcement agency is the Health
& Safety Executive. The Council’s delay in acknowledging their
responsibility did not allow a prompt response by the HSE.
Jenny was shocked by how easy it can be for
pesticide-users to flout controls. She says ‘My feeling is that quite a lot of
farmers and contractors completely disregard the law over spraying pesticides.
People don’t know who to turn to when
they’ve had an exposure. Only PEX was interested in taking my side: everyone
else wanted to explain it away’.
The HSE have decided against prosecution.
When they themselves have acknowledged that a number of the regulations designed
to control the use of pesticides have been broken, this is a disappointing
decision. Jenny has decided to pursue a civil action against the contractor.
Jenny has the confidence to take a stand over
this because she has a legal training: other pesticide exposure victims have no
such expertise.
[Published in PEX Newsletter No.7, June 2000]