Farming groups have slammed an anti-pesticide campaign group for using misleading and out of date information to claim that the UK is approving dangerous crop protection products post-Brexit.
The report by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN), which was reported in The Guardian and a number of trade titles, claimed. ‘The UK is increasingly falling behind the EU in removing chemicals that pose a risk to human health and the environment from the market.’ The group claimed that ‘That there are now 36 pesticides that can be used in the UK but are not currently allowed in EU countries.’
Nick Mole from PAN told the Guardian, “The UK is becoming the toxic poster-child of Europe. The government has repeatedly promised that our environmental standards won’t slip post-Brexit. And yet here we are, less than four years later, and already we’re seeing our standards fall far behind those of the EU.
However, the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) pointed out that of the 36 compounds allegedly approved according to PAN, a number were not pesticides, others are no longer approved, and some do not apply to products grown in the UK. “One is actually being applied for in the EU,” added AIC’s Ed Barker on Twitter. “AIC was asked to comment on this from another news source and that outlet dropped the story.”
According to the NFU, of the 36 products listed by PAN, 25 do not have UK authorisations. Of the remaining 11, two are biologicals, one is due to be assessed by the EU and five approvals are set to expire in 2024. Some of the listed products can still be used in the UK.
