London, United Kingdom
July 7, 2009
Following the Court of Appeal
judgment in the case of the Judicial Review of pesticides policy
(G. Downs vs. Defra Secretary of State),
Defra Secretary of State,
Hilary Benn, said:
“We welcome the Court of Appeal’s judgement that the Government
has complied with its obligations under European law, and we
welcome the public debate on this matter. The action brought by
Georgina Downs, whom I have met, has raised a number of issues
concerning pesticide policy.
“The protection of the health of those who live or work in, or
visit the countryside is our priority. It is essential that the
system for approval and use of pesticides is rigorous. There is
already careful testing and evaluation of pesticides on behalf
of all EU countries, and individual products are only authorised
for use in the UK after further national consideration.
“We have always been, and continue to be committed to developing
the system for regulating pesticides in the light of advances in
scientific and technical knowledge, to see how best to protect
human health. The Government has the benefit of advice from an
independent expert scientific body, the Advisory Committee on
Pesticides (ACP). The Government accepted a number of the
recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Environmental
Pollution (RCEP) in 2006, and has been implementing them.
“Following the view of the ACP and the RCEP on bystander
exposure, we have commissioned research to test and, if
possible, further improve the scientific basis for assessing the
possible exposure of residents and bystanders to pesticides. The
final results will be available in 2010. This includes work to
develop a new Bystander and Resident Exposure Assessment Model.
“We have been working with the farming industry to encourage
best practice to minimise exposure, and to improve the
availability of information for residents, bystanders and
others, e.g. the Good Neighbour Initiative. We have also
supported a new EU directive that aims to give greater assurance
that pesticides will be used safely.
We will therefore, in the light of the issues raised by Georgina
Downs and the EU Directive, consult this autumn on:
• How to give people access
to farmers’ records of spraying activity near their
properties;
• How to give prior notification of spraying activity to
residents;
• Monitoring of how pesticides are being used;
• New training requirements for operators; and
• What else should be included in our National Action Plan.
“Once we have agreed how to
implement any changes, we will amend the Pesticides Code of
Practice and update our UK Pesticides Strategy.” |
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