§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what is the current number of pesticides approved for use in the UK; and how many have(a) full approval and (b) provisional approval; [66011]
(2) how many of the pesticides in use in the UK which have only provisional approval have had this status for (a) one to three years, (b) three to five years and (c) more than five years; and if he will make a statement. [66010]
§ Mr. RookerPesticide approvals for agricultural products are issued by the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD); approvals for other products are issued by the Health and Safety Executive. A total of 3,905 pesticide products were, at 1 January 1999, approved by PSD. Of these, 1,871 had full approval for at least one use; 2,034 had provisional approval.
Pesticides may have more than one approval, each approval reflecting a different use. The 2,034 pesticides carrying provisional approval from the PSD had a total of