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- Call for pesticide tax
- 2000
- Advanta admits separation distances in UK far closer than Canada
- Advanta to pay up
- Britain's babies back baby food ban
- Buy it from farmers' markets
- Buy your festive feast from local farmers
- Cadbury's admits its chocolate contains lindane
- Call for new biotech commission to halt spread of GM seeds
- Children get raw deal from Government
- Euro MPs fail GM Test
- Farm scale trials must be called off
- First UK organic beer festival held in Birmingham
- FOE responds to Prince Philip's confidence about GM foods
- Food Standards Agency could do better
- GM farm scale trial is useless
- GM farm scale trials threaten UK honey
- GM farmers pull out of trials
- GM scientist deserves sack says Friends of the Earth
- GM trials are a farce
- Government gambling with countryside
- Government in chaos over GM seeds
- Government in shambles over GM mistake
- Government prepares to decide commercial approval for GM crops before trial ends
- Government proposes to trash GM trials
- Hormone disrupting chemicals found in baby food
- Iceland to stock organic food at non-organic prices
- Illegal GM ingredients found in supermarkets
- Lindane is banned - nearly
- More GM crops set for Wales
- MPs debate new law on GM liability
- New fears over impact of GM crops on birdlife
- Public wants pesticides banned from supermarket food
- Scientists slam GM research
- Supermarket Real Food sham
- Top insurer says no to GM pollution cover
- Wales can ban GM
- Welsh agriculture secretary bottles out of Assembly decision on GM
- Aventis criticised by Government barrister
- Baby Blair greeted with hamper of Real Food
- Biosafety Protocol Agreed
- Biotech giant clams up at GM Seed List Hearing
- Call for pesticide tax
- Church advisers say no to GM crop trials
- Diners still worry about GM food
- FOE slams Krebs over organic food
- GM contamination inevitable admits Meacher
- GM food scare hits US taco lovers
- GM seed fiasco means farmers start to dig up crops
- GM-free diet for Iceland livestock
- Government GM policy in tatters
- Government set to give go-ahead to commercial licensing
- Hold on the milk says top scientist
- Kiss of death for GM seed
- Pesticides level rise in fruit AND veg
- Promising green speech from Blair?
- Shock admission that GM crops are already growing in the UK
- Supermarkets back organic farming bill
Call for pesticide tax30 October 2000
Friends of the Earth today urged the Chancellor to bring in a pesticide tax to tackle the appalling impact of chemicals on the environment and reduce the contamination of our food.
"Voluntary measures and codes of practice have already failed. Pesticides have had a terrible impact on birds like the skylark and are regularly found in our food," said Friends of the Earth Real Food Campaigner, Sandra Bell. "The Government must put public health and the environment before vested interests and stick to its plans for a pesticides tax. Imposing a pesticide tax and putting the money into farming would help British farmers produce the sort of chemical-free food people want. It would also help to repair the damage to our countryside inflicted by 50 years of intensive agriculture.
Other countries have introduced a pesticide tax and achieved significant reductions in pesticide use. In Sweden pesticide reductions of 65 per cent over nine years have been achieved and in Denmark there have been reductions of 30 per cent over seven years.
Friends of the Earth has calculated that a pesticides tax, set at a low but effective level, could contribute more than 30 million a year to support farmers wishing to convert to organic farming. Added to the 20 million a year promised by the Government from next spring, this could contribute to a significant expansion of organic farming in the UK and help reduce our reliance on imports of organic food. Currently we import 70 per cent of the organic food consumed in the UK.
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