Aldicarb ruled ‘essential’ by EU review

Acutely toxic pesticides continue to be used in situations where health risks are high, the impact on wildlife is devastating and on-site public information is not a legal requirement. Alison Craig reports.

Aldicarb, one of the most toxic pesticides ever manufactured, is still legal in some countries of Europe. After much negotiation and following proposals by the European Commission, its total withdrawal has been finally agreed, which is welcomed by PAN UK. Nevertheless, its use will continue as the EU review process agreed that aldicarb will be restricted to certain ‘essential uses’ until December 2007. The EU has imposed a severe restriction on aldicarb, and will notify it under the Rotterdam Convention. But the UK, and seven other EU countries¹ have been granted derogations for continued limited use of aldicarb.
    In the UK, aldicarb is considered ‘essential’ in the production of sugar beet, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions and ornamentals. Aldicarb formulation is used at up to 33.6 kg/ha against eelworm, potato cyst nematodes and free-living nematodes. Around 40 tonnes of it is used annually in the UK2. Granules are placed in the furrow next to the seed itself, or placed on the soil surface and incorporated into the top 15 cms of soil.
    Aside from residue concerns – aldicarb was found as a residue in potato chips in 2002³ – risks to operators, ‘bystanders’, people living nearby, and wildlife are too high for the use of this substance to be justified. It is subject to the Poisons Law⁴, which obliges users to sign for it at point of sale and keep special records.
    The symptoms of aldicarb poisoning are headache, watering eyes, salivation, flushing, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, hypotensive effect, bradycardia or tachycardia (affecting the regularity of the heart-beat), blurred vision, muscle twitching, convulsions, and respiratory disorder⁵. 
    Aldicarb has serious effects on wildlife and regularly accounts for a significant number of the poisoning incidents reported by the UK government’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS): it was the fourth most frequently implicated pesticide in 2001⁶. It is highly toxic to birds and persistent and mobile in both soil and water⁷. The UK Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) has recently considered new evidence from the WIIS indicating that birds are poisoned by granules brought to the soil surface through the activity of rabbits or rats⁸. 
Asked why aldicarb continues to be used despite widespread public unease, an independent agronomist, David Hudson, remarked, ‘… to an extent we still use it because we’ve always used it. There is a perception, encouraged by marketing, that it is ‘better’ than alternatives (… for controlling the multiplication of potato cyst nematodes) but there is no real evidence for this. Chemical alternatives that may be just as effective do not have specific label recommendations for the side benefits, for example, of aphid control.’ 

1. European Council decision on aldicarb, Aldicarb, Pesticides Safety Directorate, www.pesticides.gov.uk 23 October 2003.
2. Central Science Laboratory Pesticide Usage Survey Group, Annual estimate of pesticide usage (2001), Aldicarb (all formulations) based on the most recent DEFRA pesticide usage surveys in Great Britain over the period 1997-2001.
3. Pesticide Residue Committee, Third quarter results, July to September 2002, page 87.
4. Aldicarb is one of 29 pesticide active ingredients subject to the provisions of the Poisons Act 1972, the Poisons List Order 1982, the Poisons Rules 1982 and amending Orders, Active Ingredients Subject to the Poisons Law, Pesticides Safety Directorate, www.pesticides.gov.uk
5. Bayer Crop Science, Safety Data Sheet for Temik 10GG, revision date 21 March 2003.
6. Pesticide Poisoning of Animals, 2001, A report of the Environmental Panel of the ACP, December 2002, page 13.
7. American Bird Conservancy, Aldicarb quick facts, www.abcbirds.org Undated.
8. Update on aldicarb: granule formulations and environmental exposure, ACP 15 (302/2003), minutes of the ACP, September 2003.

Aldicarb products still approved in the UK
Product	Approval holder	Expiry
Agriguard aldicarb	Tronsan Ltd	31/12/07
Aventis Temik 10G	Rhone-Poulenc Agriculture Ltd	30/11/03
Marnoch Carbadil 10	Marnoch Ventures Ltd	31/12/07
Me2 New Aldee	Me2 Crop Protection Ltd	31/12/07
Standon Aldicarb 10G	Standon Chemicals Ltd	31/12/07
Temik 10G	Bayer Crop Science	31/12/07
Pesticides Safety Directorate www.pesticides.gov.uk 23 October 2003

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 62, December 2003, page 20]