Online resources for the LAP project

The following features and news items are taken from Pesticides News and cover issues of concern for the home and garden, schools, Local Authorities and the wider environment. Also from Pesticides News is a  series of fact sheets explaining the least toxic methods of controlling the following pests: Ants, Bedbugs, Carpets - toxic accumulation, Cockroaches, Dust mite, Fleas, Head lice,  Mosquitoes and flies, Rodents, Slugs, Timber treatments & Wasps    

Home and garden
Amateur withdrawals in the UK

What’s in the shed? 
Over half the calls concerning pesticide poisoning that come to poisons centres concern domestic exposures involving children under twelve. This article explores some of the issues around the use, storage and disposal of home and garden pesticides.

Garden pesticide banned in UK
According to MAFF the chemical, containing the insecticide pirimicarb, and fungicides triforine and bupirimate, poses a hazard of accidental eye damage which is unacceptable in an amateur garden pesticide. 

Turf and lawn care without pesticides
PAN UK has produced an information pamphlet on turf and lawn care to help both professionals and householders make more informed choices. 

IPM for beds and borders
An increasing number of local authorities are beginning to question their use of pesticides and many of them are seeking information about alternative methods for managing pest problems.

A tale of two cities - Safety testing in Britain and Germany
In the UK, water-based permethrin timber treatment formulations have been given eight-hour re-entry time approval, whilst in Germany permethrin has been declared a persistent human health risk for up to two years after application.

Multiple hazards
Pesticide exposure victim, Margaret Reichlin, claims recent treatment of her property with a white spirit-based water sealant has released toxic chemicals from previous work carried out.

Schools
Schools to go organic
In 1996, the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) launched a new campaign, Go Organic in the School Grounds. Although some schools have wildlife gardens, grounds' maintenance generally follows conventional practice. 

Local authorities
Highlights from PAN UKs Local Authority Project councils
Members of the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] Local Authorities Project (LAP) met recently for their annual workshop which was hosted by the London Borough of Brent. 

A global overview of progressive local authorities
A number of UK local authorities have developed pest management policies that aim to minimise the use of pesticides and seek non-chemical alternatives. This article by reviews these efforts, in conjunction with many others around the world.

Amenity herbicide use increases
The marketing consultancy Produce Studies has carried out a survey of non-agricultural pesticide use during 1995 in England and Wales for the Department of the Environment (DoE). The main findings are set out below. By David Buffin.

Debugging pest control
Is any real progress being made in the development of safer and better controls for pests in the built environment? Is anyone trying to understand the ecology of pests in the artificial environments of our homes and cities? Do the control measures applied against pests in our homes really work? The Second International Conference on Insect Pests in the Urban Environment  held in Edinburgh in July 1996 addressed these issues and many others. By Mark Davis.

Green Flag Parks
Green flag for go! 
The Green Flag award scheme was created by PAN UK in partnership with others and has developed with such success over the past three years that it needed a new dedicated management structure - the Civic Trust was invited to manage the scheme.

Green Flag Park Awards for 2000 more than doubled
The number of parks judged good enough to receive one of the prestigious Green Flag Park Awards for the year 2000 has more than doubled. 

The best parks in England - it's official
1998 sees the second round of Green Flag Park Awards. This article reports on developments since 1997.

Green Flag Park Awards
On 9 September 1997 'Green Flags' were awarded to seven parks in England (see photos). This is not an industry 'slap on the back award'  but an independent bid to raise public and professional expectations of what makes a good urban park.

Raising Green Flags
Next summer up to 50 English public parks will be awarded the first Green Flag Park Awards. The awards will be made in recognition of high standards of environmental protection and enhancement. They will also take account of community involvement and the quality of landscapes.

Wildlife and environment 
Indirect effects of pesticides on birds
The UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has produced a report that provides further and more detailed evidence that pesticides have indirect effects on farmland birds by reducing the abundance of their invertebrate insect food source.

Landfill site contaminated
The UK Environment Agency's remit for licensing landfill sites is to 'prevent harm to human health and the environment'. But in respect of pesticides they are failing to do so.

For more information about this project contact Roslyn McKendry, National Project Officer at PAN UK
[First published online in August 2001]