§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 11 March 2003,Official Report column 1148W, on pesticides, for what reasons the use of metalaxyl and permethrin were rescinded by the EU; and for what reasons they remain approved in the UK. [1036451
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 20 March 2003]: Under Directive 91/414/EEC all pesticides which have been on the market since July 1993 will be reviewed to ensure they continue to meet modern safety standards. Decisions have already been taken to revoke the approval for a number of substances including metalaxyl and permethrin.
In the case of metalaxyl the main approval holder withdrew its support for commercial reasons in favour of a newer pesticide, metalaxyl-m. As a result other notifiers wishing to support the pesticide through the EU Review no longer had access to all the necessary data. The Commission, therefore, took the decision to withdraw metalaxyl at a meeting in October 2002. Once the Commission Decision has been published in the Official Journal Member States will have six months from the date of publication to withdraw approvals.
Permethrin was also not supported through the EU Review for commercial reasons. As a result approvals for permethrin were revoked in 2001 with the exception of forestry uses. In recognition of the fact that permethrin has important uses in forestry and there are currently no alternatives available the Commission has allowed this use only to continue until 31 December 2003 at the latest.
§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 11 March 2003, how many residues of the substances have been found in foodstuffs, by type, since the rescinding of their use; what proportion of residues were found in foodstuffs from(a) the UK and (b) abroad; and what actions were taken as a result. [103689]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 20 March 2003]: Of the 22 substances listed in the reply of 11 March, of residues, only five of them have been detected since their approval was rescinded. The results are as follows:
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Commodity Number of samples with residues Origin Cyhalothrin Sugar snap peas 2 Imported Grapes 1 Imported Celery 3 Imported Fenvalerate Grapes 2 Imported Lindane Cheese 1 Imported Beef mince 1 UK Beef sausage 1 UK White chocolate 6 Imported Propham Processed potatoes 1 Imported 1 UK
Commodity Number of samples with residues Origin Quintozene Herbs—parsley 2 Imported Lettuce 5 UK Of the 26 residues found, eight (31 per cent.) were of UK origin and 18 (69 per cent.) were imported.
No further action was taken as none of the residues found exceeded permitted maximum residue levels (MRLs) and risk assessments conducted showed that there were no concerns for human health.
§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 11 March 2003,Official Report columns 145–7W, on pesticides, for what reasons the substances were rescinded; and how many of the substances are produced in the UK. [103690]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 20 March 2003]: Pesticides can have their approvals revoked for various reasons but in practice revocation mostly results because the approval holder takes a commercial decision to no longer market their products.
There have also been cases where approvals have been revoked because of either safety or environmental concerns. Those revoked in the UK as a result of the EU review programme are: lindane, quintozene, fentin hydroxide and fentin acetate.
Some active substances have also been banned under the EC "Prohibition Directive" due to their persistence in the environment. These include chlordane, 2-methoxymethylmercury acetate, mercuric oxide, mercurous chloride and phenylmercury acetate.
In the UK Anti-Cholinesterase Review carbofuran, chlorfenvinphos, disulfoton, etrimfos, propoxur, carbaryl, fenitrothion, heptenophos, ethiofencarb, mephosfolan, methomyl, phosalone, pyrazophos, trichlorfon, thiometon, diazinon and quinalphos were not supported. In the EU review the active substances not supported to date include ferbam, propham, benomyl, fenvalerate, monolinuron, tecnazene and zineb.
The approvals for products containing phorate were revoked in the UK because they did not comply with the EC Maximum Residue Regulations.
The Department does not hold details of those substances listed in our previous answer, given on 11 March, that are produced in the UK, as this information is not required for regulatory purposes.