Lib Dem MEP Backs New EU Pesticide Controls

12.00.00pm GMT Tue 13th Jan 2009

A controversial new EU law passed today by a large majority of the European Parliament will result in up to 25 toxic pesticides being taken off the market. It was backed by East of England Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff.

The measure prohibits the use by farmers of chemicals that pose risks to human health and the environment because they are mutagenic, carcinogenic or toxic to reproduction.

It also puts strict controls on aerial spraying and minimises the use of pesticides in parks and sports grounds. It forces the UK government to adopt a national action plan to monitor pesticide use.

The effect of the new EU regulation is to ban about 4% of all pesticides and herbicides currently in use, including persistent bioaccumulative and toxic substances that, like DDT a generation ago, can lead to a build up of chemicals in the bodies of humans, birds and insects.

Eastern region farmers fear that the new law will make it more difficult to grow peas in damp conditions, and the horticulturalists have also expressed their concerns while the negotiations on the draft law have taken place.

Andrew Duff is satisfied that the original positions of the Commission and Parliament have been very significantly modified to take these worries into account. Sensible derogations will apply when effective substitutes cannot be found to protect plant health. In any case, pesticides will only have to be withdrawn from the market when their current authorisation comes to an end, which in most cases is not before 2013.

One of the main impacts of the new law is to promote the development of safer alternatives to toxic substances. The measure also seeks to protect bees, whose numbers are in steep decline.

In a statement, Duff said: "The region's farmers have done well to raise their concerns, and the EU institutions have done fairly well in responding to them.

"I would have liked the negotiations to have been taken to a further round, and I voted for an amendment heavily defeated which would have widened further the scope of the derogations by forcing the Council to compromise further.

"People should not be taken in by the scandalising of the eurosceptics about the main content of this package deal. British farming is competitive and will remain so. The new law will stimulate R&D, not least in the East of England. Our food and the countryside will be cleaner, and people more healthy."

ENDS