Pesticides (Hansard, 4 February 1988)

§ 21. Mr. Vaz
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he will take to ensure that there is an increase in the scope of monitoring to test foodstuffs for pesticides residues.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
Existing monitoring, consisting of surveys targeted at potential problem areas, and the examination of residues in the average national diet, has been supplemented since last year by regular surveys of the dietary staples — milk, bread and potatoes. Later this year we shall be introducing statutory maximum residue limits for the most important primary food components of the United Kingdom diet in addition to implementing obligatory EC limits in and on cereals and animal products. Financial provision will be sought in the Supply Estimates for 1988–89 to increase resources to allow for extra monitoring arising from this legislation.

§ 29. Ms. Ruddock
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make available for public scrutiny the evaluations of pesticides still in use, and those no longer marketed but prepared under the former voluntary pesticides safety and precautions scheme.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
The arrangements under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 for making evaluations on pesticides publicly available apply to those evaluations produced for newly approved pesticides and for reviews of existing ones.
My Department responds to specific queries about pesticides registered under the pesticides safety precautions scheme. However a large number of active ingredients were involved over nearly 30 years, and many are of limited current interest. The priority given to this activity depends both on the availability of data and the nature of the concern expressed.

§ 54. Mr. Michael
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he hopes to respond to the Select Committee on Agriculture's report on the effect of pesticides on health.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
The agreed report of the Agriculture Committee dealt, in very brief terms, with the reason why, because of the general election, it had been unable to complete its inquiry. In these circumstances, the Government believe that it would be inappropriate to offer any formal response to the agreed report.
Departments are, however, considering the individual conclusions and recommendations contained in the draft report of my hon. Friend the Member for Holland with Boston (Sir R. Body), which, although not agreed by the Agriculture Committee, was published as an appendix to the main report. The independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) has already seen the draft report and certain points raised in it will be considered in the first instance by the relevant panels supporting the ACP.

§ 63. Mr. Moss
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made in controlling the supply and use of pesticides.
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§ Mr. Donald Thompson
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) on 28 January as regards the controls on use, introduced under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986.
As far as supply is concerned, the following controls have been implemented with effect from 6 October 1986.
only approved pesticides may be sold or supplied; suppliers must take all reasonable precautions to protect human health, animals, plants and the environment; suppliers must be competent for the duties they are to perform; pesticides may only be supplied to the end user in approved containers and under approved labels.
As from I January 1988, anyone selling or supplying a pesticide approved for use in agriculture, horticulture or forestry must hold a recognised certificate of competence or be supervised by a certificate holder.

§ 72. Mr. Morgan
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures he has taken to ensure that there is increased public awareness of the legal controls on the use of pesticides and of individuals' responsibilities.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
Since the introduction of the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986, a series of press releases have been issued drawing attention to particular aspects of the new controls. In addition, my Department has to date distributed some 200,000 copies of the leaflet "Pesticides — Guide to the new controls" which will continue to be made available.
The Ministry's publicity efforts have not been carried out in isolation. Many sections of the industry are helping to get the message across.