§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for what pesticides cleared under the pesticides safety precautions scheme there is no available data, or none was submitted to obtain clearance, on (a) carcinogenicity, (b) mutagenicity and (c) teratogenicity.
§ Mr. MacGregorData on all three elements must be submitted before a pesticide can be cleared under the pesticides safety precautions scheme.
Departments will assess the need for new data when they review existing clearances under the proposed statutory scheme where clearances granted many years ago may not meet current standards in this respect.
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§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the presumed level of reporting of incidents involving toxic effects of pesticides on wildlife.
§ Mrs. FennerWhile my Department has no way of measuring the proportion of all incidents that are reported I am confident that significant incidents are generally brought to our attention.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many of the people currently involved in advising farmers on the need to apply pesticides, particularly in the commercial sector, have training in the recognition of pest problems and the assessment of their severity.
§ Mrs. FennerThe most popular source of advice for farmers on the use of pesticides is the agrochemical merchants' representative.
Member companies of both the British agrochemical supply industry scheme and the British Agrochemicals Association require all staff who give advice on the use of pesticides to attend formal training courses and to attain a specified degree of competence. These organisations cover by far the major proportion of the trade.
Specialist advice is also available to farmers and growers from the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service.