The British Crop Protection Council (BCPC) ha supported the UK in its move to abstain from the European Council's vote on new pesticide legislation, which it has described as a 'retrogressive move'.
In an open letter to the UK's secretary of state for the environmentHilary Benn, the group backed the UK's impact assessment on pesticides,claiming that the EU's proposals are not currently supported by studiesshowing that the planned cut-off criteria will improve health or theenvironment.
'At a time of international food shortages the proposals will have a devastating effect on farming and food production in the UK and across Europe,' said the BCPC's Colin Ruscoe. 'To introduce such measures in the midst of the crisis is an international scandal and must be resisted – there is no evidence of a public health benefit to justify these proposals.'
On 23 June, the council of EU agriculture ministers voted by qualified majority to accept proposed cut-off criteria that would automatically eliminate pesticides containing certain hazardous ingredients. The legislation now moves on to the European Parliament, where further cut-off criteria could also be added to the proposals.
The UK has argued that these regulations only consider the hazardous nature of the product, and do not encompass a risk-based assessment. 'Just because a product has intrinsically hazardous properties, this does not mean it is dangerous,' the BCPC said in a statement.
While the EC has said that the introduction of the new legislation will have minimal impact on crop production in Europe (around 4-8 per cent will be lost, it has forecast), a recent study by the Pesticide Safety Directive in the UK reported that there could be up to 100 per cent loss of crops such as carrots, onions and parsnips.
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