As one Defra agency appears to be finally learning the painful lessons of IT rollouts gone wrong, another seems to have walked into the same trap. D-day for pesticides as new EU regulation is put to the vote
THE Government is set to vote against controversial proposals in the EU which could see a vast number of pesticides banned, leaving farmers facing reduced crop yields.
Representatives from across the EU will vote today (Thursday, September 24), on the Pesticides Directive and the new pesticides regulations.
Speaking ahead of the vote, Environment Minister Dan Norris said while the UK would back the Directive, it would be voting against the new regulation which could ban the use of hundreds of key pesticides.
He said: “The UK cannot support these proposals as they could lead to a reduction in crop yields for no recognisable benefit to human health, and no definitive assessment of the impact of removing these chemicals has been produced. Neither do we agree with the principle of regulating based on hazard rather than risk.
“The Government takes the health of people and the environment very seriously, but while eliminating hazardous substances from pesticides has obvious appeal, it is not a sensible way to regulate.”
The Directive will provide new controls on pesticide use across a range of key areas and will bring the rest of Europe into line with the controls currently in force in the UK.
The regulation however goes further, banning the use of potential endocrine disruptors such as triazole pesticides – a move Defra claims could see wheat yields in the UK drop by up to 20 per cent.
Meanwhile other criteria in the regulation could eliminate the majority of herbicides available for crops such as carrots, parsnips and onions by around 2015.
For full details on today’s vote, keep checking www.farmersguardian.com
