Pesticide review fails consumers and farmers 

A new report from Friends of the Earth and PAN UK(1) attacks the government for failing to grasp an opportunity to find safer alternatives to chemical pesticides.

The publication of Breaking the Pesticide Chain, was timed to coincide with the withdrawal from the market of 320 pesticides across the EU(2). In the UK, 45 pesticides will be banned. Friends of the Earth and PAN UK welcome the ban, but say the review has failed consumers and farmers by not going far enough. The report shows that:

• many pesticides are being withdrawn for economic, not safety reasons, because the manufacturers do not want to pay for the product to go through the review process

• some pesticides that have known risks to human health have been given approval for continued use across the EU(3)

• some pesticides earmarked for withdrawal for environmental or health reasons have been given ‘essential use’ status and so can continue to be used until 2007(4)

• the slow pace of the process means that many pesticides have not yet been reviewed

• not enough support has been given to farmers and growers to find safer alternatives.

The report warns that UK farmers may be at a disadvantage compared with farmers in other European countries on account of the UK government failure to ensure that alternative means of pest management are available to them. Instead of protecting the environment, the review could lead to an increase in imported food with the associated environmental costs of long distance transportation.

There are several reasons for safer alternatives being blocked including:

• prohibitive costs of registration for new products

• a regulatory system that appears to favour chemical products

• insufficient funding for research into alternative methods particularly for fruit and vegetables 

• the uncoordinated nature of government funded research 

• the lack of free and independent advice to provide practical help to farmers on pesticide reduction.

Consumers would benefit from a more proactive approach on the part of the government to help UK growers and reduce residues in fruit and vegetables. The government cut funding for promising research to predict fungal disease before it reached the stage of practical use to farmers and growers. 

Insecticide use could be reduced by the use of pheromone traps and other natural products. Pheromones act by changing the behaviour of the pests to disrupt mating. In 2001, more than 19,000 hectares of apple trees in Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands were treated against insect pests using pheromones, but no UK orchards were treated. The cost of registration and the need for biological products to prove the same level of efficacy as chemical pesticides, can be a barrier to such products reaching the market (see page 22). In the US, a separate approval process has been set up for ‘biopesticides’ which does not by-pass important environmental and safety assessments but recognises that the regulatory process for chemicals is not appropriate for natural products. 

Friends of the Earth and PAN UK are calling for a shake up of the pesticides approvals process to encourage safer alternatives reaching the market, a significant increase in government funded research into alternatives, and a free independent advice service to farmers on pesticide reduction, to be funded by a tax on pesticide products (see pages 20-21). (DB)

References
1. Friends of the Earth and the Pesticides Action Network UK, Breaking the Pesticide Chain, The alternatives to pesticides coming off the EU market, July 2003, www.pan-uk.org/press/91414foe.htm
2. Thursday 24 July is the last day that pesticides targeted for withdrawal can be sold in the EU.
3. Iprodione has been cleared for continued use in all EU countries. Iprodione is a suspected carcinogen, potential groundwater contaminant, suspected hormone disrupter and turns up in food including carrots.
4. Aldicarb has been granted ‘essential use’ status for a range of crops including potatoes in the UK. It is highly toxic and is classified by the World Health Organisation as ‘extremely hazardous’. It works on the nervous system in a similar way to organophosphates. Residues of aldicarb have been found in potatoes at levels exceeding safety levels for young children. 

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 61, September 2003, page 24]