HL Deb 10 May 1989 vol 507 cc744-5WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What government funds have been expended over the past 10 years on research into each of the following subjects:

  1. (a) the residues of pesticides and herbicides present in home-grown and imported food for humans and animals;
  2. (b) the effects of such residues on both humans and animals; and
  3. (c) the desirability and feasibility of avoiding the consumption of such residues;

what conclusions they have so far been able to draw from the research; and whether similar research is being undertaken in Europe and the USA.

Baroness Trumpington

Expenditure figures for these items are not readily available for the past 10 years but current expenditure and expenditure trends are as follows:

  1. (a) the surveillance programme of the Working Party on Pesticide Residues, which covers imported and home produced food and feedingstuffs in addition to analyses of human tissue and wildlife, costs some £1 million 745 per year. The costs of this work have been gradually rising in recent years to take account of an increased programme;
  2. (b) and (c) are taken into account at the time a pesticide is approved for use and reassessed when a pesticide is reviewed. Only when Ministers are convinced, on the basis of expert advice, that the product can be used without risk to people (whether consumers, operators, or those in the vicinity of spraying operations), livestock or domestic animals will authority to put it on the market be given. The costs of approving and reviewing pesticides were £1.6 million in 1987 and £1.9 million in 1988. There is also a wildlife incident investigation scheme which costs some £0.5 million per year.

Monitoring by the Working Party on Pesticide Residues, which backs up our approvals process, has demonstrated that pesticide residue levels in food in the UK are generally low and that estimated average dietary intakes are well within acceptable daily intakes, the safety levels set by the UN, FAO and WHO. Similar monitoring and approvals arrangements exist in other EC member states and in the USA.