§ Mr. BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the level of pesticide residues found in fresh 283W water in the UK which comes from (a)agrochemicals used in farming and (b)products used by organic farmers to control insect pests. [46637]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring ground and surface waters for pesticides in England and Wales. A summary of the results is published by the agency; the most recent publication is called 'Pesticides 2000'. The 180 different pesticide active substances monitored do not include any insecticides used by organic farmers. Even if these compounds were to be included in the monitoring programme, most are also used in conventional farming and it would be impossible to identify whether a particular finding in water arose from a particular pattern of farming.