The Plant Protection Products Regulations currently being discussed by The European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety mean stricter controls on the use of pesticides within the United Kingdom and Europe as a whole.
This will have an impact on everyone who uses pesticide control products as part of their daily life. There has already been a close run battle on amendments to proposed pesticide legislation but all efforts are made ahead of the final vote. If the final vote goes against us, we will see an end to well over 80 active ingredients used in Agriculture, Horticulture and Amenity Horticulture.
The long and short of it is that the European Parliament Committee is stating that there are numerous pesticide active ingredients that should be withdrawn from use, both by the horticultural industry and agriculture. These decisions are being made by EU host nations who do not allow pesticide use in their Countries and without solid reference to independent EU Country specific scientific data.
First they were complaining about the size and shape of our Bananas and our Brussels Sprouts, now they are planning to withdraw the use of some key chemicals, some by a gradual withdrawal process and some on a voluntary basis.
The best place to keep up to date with the latest regulatory and information updates is the Pesticides Safety Directorate web site and the turf industry sites such as Pitchcare and Horticulture Week web site.
The UK chemical companies are lobbying the EU Parliament hard on our behalf to withdraw pesticides based upon hard scientific research as to their long term affect on human health and water quality. The PSD are suggesting that 14-23 per cent of chemicals could be lost. As Weed Free provides a contact weed control service, we have an invested interest in the current issues surrounding Pesticide availability and use.
We will keep you updated. The next EU Parliament meeting is scheduled for 12th January 2009 in Strasbourg.
Comments