§ Mr. Warrenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review the operation of the pesticide regulations of the Food and Environmental Protection Act insofar as they relate to the need of growers 713W to register agro-chemicals which are off-label, with a view to suspending the regulations until such time as the applications before his Department have been cleared.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonThe requirements of the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 are kept under constant review to ensure that they achieve their objectives in terms of protecting food and the environment. I also require to be satisfied that they do not impose unnecessary burdens on those who have to operate within them. I accordingly announced interim arrangements for off-label uses of pesticides in 1988 on 30 October, which give provisional approval for one year for additional uses of approved pesticides where safety considerations allow this. I believe that these arrangements will ensure that growers should have available to them appropriate products with which to treat almost all pest and disease situations. We are also giving priority to individual applications in those sectors which are not included in the interim arrangements, and I hope to be announcing definitive off-label approvals for those sectors within the next few weeks.