§ Lord Melchettasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they agree with the advice given by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in a recently published advisory leaflet, Focus on spraying with hormone weedkillers, that spray and vapour drift from hormone weedkillers presents a major threat to crops such as the broad bean (vicia faba), and whether they agree that other plants in the same genus such as tufted vetch, bithynian vetch and hairy tare, are equally susceptible as agricultural crops to spray and vapour drift damage from these herbicides.
Earl FerrersThe departmental advisory leaflet was issued at my personal instigation and was not intended to imply that drift from these weedkillers necessarily poses a major threat to the broad bean (vicia faba) or to any other crop. Its purpose was to draw attention to those non-target crops which, at certain stages of growth and in particular weather conditions, could be at risk from nearby herbicide spraying operations, and to highlight the kind of simple precautions which farmers need to follow in order to prevent damage to such crops. Of the other vicia species to which the noble Lord refers, bithynian vetch occurs mainly in bushy areas near coastal cliffs, where it is seldom likely to be exposed to herbicide drift. There is no evidence to suggest that tufted vetch or hairy tare are as susceptible to such drift as are the agricultural crops which are listed in the department's advisory leaflet.