Supplementary memorandum from The Pesticides
Trust
I would like to take this opportunity to add
a comment to my submission to the Environmental Audit Committee.
It concerns our response to the Chancellor's Pre-Budget statement
(an issue I am surprised the Chairman of the Committee did not
raise). The Chancellor said the "government intends to explore
with the agrochemical industry whether its objectives can be better
achieved through a partnership approach between government and
industry."
We are concerned by this government position
because a similar arrangement with the herbicide isoproturon (IPU)
has so far failed to work.
Isoproturon, the most widely used cereal herbicide
in the UK, is regularly found to have exceeded the 0.1 µg/litre
EU standard for drinking water—it is also found in the aquatic
environment.
In 1995 an IPU Task Force (comprising the principle
manufacturers AgrEvo, Ciba [now Norvartis, soon to be AstraZeneca/Novartis]
and Rhone Poulenc) began a Stewardship Programme which it hoped
would protect water quality. The Task Force produced practical
guidance to farmers and spray operators.
Since this time there has been concern that
this programme is not working. A recent (15 January 1999) press
release from the Environment Agency said:
"The chemical currently giving most cause
for concern is Isoproturon which is a general purpose herbicide
used extensively in agriculture for controlling grasses and broad-leaved
weeds in winter and spring cereals".
Investigations carried out by the Environment
Agency indicate that most of the contamination is draining from
arable land in the north and east of Shropshire and appears to
be entering the rivers by movement through the soil after application.
The Environment Agency's Upper Severn Area Environment
Planning Manager Bob Harvey, said: "We share the concerns
of the water company (South Staffordshire Water) and are very
anxious to work with the agricultural community to improve river
quality."
In light of this evidence that partnerships
between government and the agrochemical industry are not working,
we feel that more stringent measures such as pesticides tax should
be adopted.
December 1999
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