§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research his Department is carrying out or is aware of, apart from the Boxworth experiment, into the effects of pesticides on (a) moths and butterflies, (b) flowering plants, (c) birds and (d) beneficial insects that may be exposed to pesticides in hedgerows or other habitats contaminated by spray or vapour drift.
§ Mr. MacGregor[pursuant to his reply, 21 February 1985, c. 580]: A great deal of relevant research, in particular surveillance, is summarised in a paper, published in 1983, entitled The Environmental Cost of Pesticide Usage in the United Kingdom. Much of this work is still continuing. I am placing copies in the Library of the House.
86WAdditionally, the Agriculture and Food Research Council's weed research organisation is studying the effects of pesticides and cultural techniques on the flora of field boundaries and is investigating the susceptibility of a range of flowering plants to herbicides. The Game Conservancy is investigating the effects of pesticides on beneficial insects and birds and the environmental value of unsprayed headlands in cereal crops.
My Department is investigating the effects of pesticides on bird behaviour and is funding a field study of the effects of insecticide use in forestry on bird populations. Agrochemical companies do a considerable amount of work on the effects of their products on beneficial insects in cereals and other crops. Certain universities also contribute to the work on beneficial insects.