§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those sites of special scientific interest which have been damaged or destroyed by pesticides in the years 1981 to 1984, together with such information as he has about the names of the pesticides concerned.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI regret that the information is not available in the form requested. Conclusive proof of both pesticide and herbicide damage is difficult to obtain. The Nature Conservancy Council estimates that about 10 per cent. of the 156 sites included in Appendix 5(b) of the Nature Conservancy Council's 10th report (Damage to SSSIs and proposed SSSIs: April 1983 to March 1984) have suffered (mainly minor and short-term damage) from the excessive application of herbicides and from spray drift.