Pesticide companies should pay for better testing25 September 2002
As the Government publishes its annual report on pesticide residues (25 September) Friends of the Earth has called for a significant increase in the amount of monitoring carried out, with special attention given to pesticides in children's food.
Nearly 4,000 samples of food have been tested over the past year and the results have been published on a quarterly basis. But the Pesticides Residues Committee has admitted that most of its sampling is not statistically valid. The UK tests fewer samples per 100,000 population than any other EU country. Inadequate information about our exposure to pesticides undermines the credibility of existing safety assessments. It also makes it hard to monitor progress towards residue reduction or compliance with legislation. For example sound monitoring will be needed to check compliance with new laws introduced this year which prohibit any pesticide residues being present in baby food.
Earlier in the year the Pesticide Residues Committee sent out options for changes to the monitoring programme. But it made it clear that no additional money would be available so there would be choices to make. For example monitoring of processed foods may be cut and there would not be year on year monitoring of key fresh foods. The monitoring programme currently costs around £2.2 million, partly funded by a levy on pesticide companies. Friends of the Earth wants an increase in this levy to pay for extra monitoring.
Friends of the Earth Pesticides Campaigner Sandra Bell said: "If the Government doesn't really know what pesticides we are regularly exposed to, how can it keep saying that there is no risk to our health? We need a much better system for monitoring residues in our food. The Government should be paying special attention to the foods most commonly eaten by children, yet there is very little testing of popular foods from bananas to biscuits. The levy on pesticide companies should be increased to pay for more testing. These companies make products which could be harmful to our health so they must be prepared to pay for adequate monitoring."
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