§ Mr. Willie W. Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to stop the export of banned or hazardous pesticides to Third-world countries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldegravePesticides may be banned or severely restricted for a number of reasons and the need to impose restrictions will vary depending on local conditions. For example, some are much more persistent in our environment than under tropical conditions; Third world countries may consider certain pesticides that are banned or severely restricted in this country to be vital to protect valuable food crops or for public health campaigns.
Rather than impose our national concerns on other countries, we believe our role should be to assist them to make their own decisions, in the light of their own circumstances. This is the philosophy underlying the agreements already reached in OECD and in FAO, and was endorsed at a UNEP meeting which we hosted in London earlier this month. The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to implement these agreements under which we notify other countries whenever we ban or severely restrict chemicals (including pesticides) so that those countries can consider what action may be 667W appropriate to their circumstances. Individual countries are notified again when one of these chemicals is first exported to that country.