Environmental campaigners are concerned about the dangers posed by glufosinate ammonium, in particular that the weed killer, known to have toxic effects on animals and micro-organisms, might find its way into surface or ground water.
The judicial review, by biotech company Aventis, and pesticides industry trade association, the Crop Protection
Association(1), was brought after Friends of the Earth asked the UK government in 2000 for safety information relating to glufosinate
ammonium(2). The information was supplied to the government by Aventis to back its application for the chemical to be sprayed on winter trials of its GM oilseed rape. Use of the chemical had previously been banned during winter months because government advisors were worried about its potential to wash from the soil in heavier winter
rains(3).
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs agreed to release the information to Friends of the Earth in 2001 under the Environmental Information Regulations at which point Aventis and the Crop Protection Association instigated legal action to prevent them doing so. The case was heard in the High Court in London over three days from Wednesday 15 to Friday 17 May.
Phil Michaels, Friends of the Earth’s legal advisor, said: ‘People have a right to know about the possible effects of chemicals being sprayed on their food and used in their homes. But the chemical industry does not believe in openness and has gone to the courts to try and force the government to keep the safety data secret. This is an important case which could lift the cloak of secrecy that has surrounded pesticide approvals for decades. Forcing companies to come clean about the impacts of the products they make will be good for democracy, good for our health and good for the environment.’
The hearing was adjourned in order that Mr Justice Silber be given the opportunity to consider the documents which Aventis wishes to keep secret, and which are said to amount to some 50,000 pages. The hearing is likely to reconvene in the Autumn.
1. The judicial review has been brought by Aventis and the Crop Protection Association against DEFRA. Friends of the Earth has filed papers in this case and will appear as an interested party.
2. The Environmental Information Regulations 1992 require that public authorities make available to any person who asks for it, without their needing to prove an interest, all environmental information held by them subject to a number of limited and specific exceptions.
3. Advisory Committee on Pesticides, Annual Report, 1991, 6-7.
[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 56, June 2002, page 18]