Some
of our residues are missing
The UK Central Science Laboratory (CSL) may have
under-estimated the levels of some pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables.
New tests show that between 20-90% of the pesticides sought may have gone
undetected.
Scientists at CSL (who routinely check for adulteration) have
discovered that several pesticides may give false low readings when tested. For
example, current analysis does not detect the fungicide chlorothalonil in
onions.
In a normal monitoring test, analysts chop up samples before
analysis. At CSL, they now think that the chopping process releases enzymes or
other substances which then degrade pesticide residues. A new test called
cryogenic milling, where the sample is frozen, has been carried out at CSL. This
process minimises pesticide decomposition allowing for the analysis of
previously undetected, or partially detected, residues. Scientists at CSL have
now adopted cryogenic milling as standard, and are urging European labs to
follow suit.
Chemistry & Industry, 18 November 1996.
Amateurs
using professional products?
The UK government may change its rules to allow
amateur gardeners to buy pesticides at present only available to professional
users. The view is that consumers are sufficiently familiar with the use of
these chemicals formerly considered unsafe for amateurs.
The consumer publication Gardening Which? commented:
"We welcome more effective pest controls but not at the cost of increased
risks to health or the environment and have alerted the Pesticides Safety
Directorate to a number of our concerns." Even when advised to do so, many
gardeners will not wear protective equipment such as rubber gloves and goggles.
Chemicals can also easily drift into neighbouring gardens and pose a risk to
bystanders, the publication concludes.
Gardening Which?, December 1996.
Illegal
pesticides in Germany
Dr Koch of the Institute of Pest Control in
Westfalen-Lippe has raised concerns about cheap imitation pesticides coming into
Germany from Eastern Europe. Illegal traders also regularly import pesticides
from countries such as France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, where the valued
added tax is much lower. In total, the illegal imports could amount to one-third
of the total German market.
Whilst many of the products are similar to their German
equivalents (although the label may not be in German), pesticides coming from
Eastern Europe may contain an unknown quantity and quality of pesticide active
ingredient.
Pestizid Brief, PAN Germany, 7/96.
BSE
study puts squeeze
on low in-put research
UK research into some less intensive farming projects
will be cut by 20% because of the BSE crisis, according to the Institution of
Professionals, Managers and Specialists (IPMS). The scientists working at the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) claim the
government has provided no new cash to fund an increase in the BSE research
budget that was boosted by £1 million for 1996-97.
The Institute for Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER),
for example, has had to cut some projects previously endorsed by the Ministry of
Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) for funding up to the year 2000. IGER
expects to lose more than £1 million in MAFF commissions, particularly
affecting livestock and grassland programmes.
Tony Bell, IMPS national officer criticised this switch of
MAFF funding as: "short-sighted in the extreme. BSE was caused by
over-intensive food production methods of precisely the kind which BBSRC
research is working to minimise."
IMPS press release, 29 October 1996.
New
dips affect river life
Insects and young fish are being wiped out in Cumbria
(NE England) by new sheep dips introduced because they are less harmful to
humans. The Environment Agency has reported an increase in pollution incidents
that had destroyed flies and their larvae, on which fish depended for food.
Cases have risen since farmers began
using the synthetic pyrethroid dips which are 100 times more toxic to aquatic
life than the organophosphate chemicals they replace. The Scottish Environment
Agency has warned farmers they face jail or a fine up to £20,000 for pollution
if they do not dispose of the dips properly.
Daily Telegraph, 16 November 1996.
Baby food
worries
A survey among buyers of organic baby food revealed
that the vast majority of respondents are worried about quality issues relating
to baby food, including pesticide residues in food. A total of 96% said
pesticide residue levels in commercial baby food should be more strictly
controlled than that for adult food.
Hipp Organic Baby Food, October 1996.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 34,
December 1996, page 19]