In this issue of Pesticides News we report on changes to the UK legislative and regulatory framework.
New right to know laws (page 4) will allow unprecedented access to environmental information within Europe. Such access has been available in the United States since 1986 when new legislation prompted by the 1984 tragedy in Bhopal, India, was enacted. Information about chemical pollution and its sources has been instrumental in assisting grassroots organisations in the United States to monitor emissions and hold polluters to account.
Poisoning of birds of prey is an historical problem highly correlated with game rearing interests. The
Possession of Pesticides (Scotland) Order came into force in March this year banning possession of the eight pesticides responsible for over 99% of such poisonings (page 6). This is one of several measures introduced under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 and provides a new tool to crack down on the pernicious persecution of predatory birds in Scotland. Although several of the pesticides named in this legislation are no longer legal to use it has not previously been possible to prosecute persons found possessing them. With this new Order possession becomes a crime. The threat of prosecution should help deter these practices. Similar persecution of birds of prey is documented by the Royal Society for Protection of Birds in England and Wales. PAN
UK encourages the UK government to enact similar legislation south of the border.
PAN UK recently discovered that pesticide manufacturers have been failing to notify the UK governments’ Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) of health effects potentially caused by their products and reported to them. Such notification has been a legal requirement since 1998. Prompted by PAN
UK, PSD sent questionnaires to the companies but despite several extensions of the deadline 13 out of 184 companies failed to submit completed questionnaires. In response PSD has revoked licences for all product approvals held by the non-responding companies. Survey results are reported in this issue (page 3).
We continue to bring information on successful safe alternatives to pesticides.
Green Muscle® is a biological control based on a fungus specific to short-horned grasshoppers, such as the desert locust. This product has been developed with the support of funding from European and Canadian governments and is a practical, efficacious, and cost-effective alternative to the toxic insecticides currently used to control locust plagues. The specificity of the product limits its potential market so Green Muscle will require public funding to ensure it is available to agencies involved in locust control in Africa to avoid future plagues (page 12).
We also report on developments in heat treatment
technology, an alternative to fumigation of food production facilities (page 16). While a number of the gases used for fumigation have been withdrawn for health or environmental reasons the chemical industry continues to develop new toxic gases and lobby for their introduction. Sulphuryl fluoride has recently been introduced into Europe and has already been responsible for killing one bystander in Germany. On a more encouraging note, heat treatment technology is gaining in popularity in the UK and in several other countries.
[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 67, March 2005, page 2]