Archived press release

Pesticide company's legal bid to keep toxic secrets

15 May 2002

Campaigners dressed in chemical suits and pollution masks and carrying chemical spray packs marked ‘top secret’ will be outside the High Court on Wednesday. They will be protesting against chemical company Aventis’ attempt to keep safety data on one of its pesticides secret.

The High Court in London will today (Wednesday) hear a legal bid from the biotech industry to stop the Government releasing pesticide safety data to Friends of the Earth. The environmental campaigners are concerned about the dangers posed by Glufosinate Ammonium, and in particular that the weed killer, known to have toxic effects on animals and microrganisms, might find its way into surface or ground water.

The judicial review is being brought jointly by biotech company Aventis, and pesticides industry trade association, the Crop Protection Association [1]. The case was brought after Friends of the Earth asked the UK Government in 2000 for safety information relating to the weedkiller Glufosinate Ammonium [2]. The information was supplied to the Government by Aventis to back its application for the chemical to be sprayed on winter trials of its GM oilseed rape. Use of the chemical had previously been banned during winter months because government advisors were worried about its potential to wash from the soil in heavier winter rains [3].

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs agreed to release the information to Friends of the Earth in 2001 under the Environmental Information Regulations at which point Aventis and the Crop Protection Association instigated legal action to prevent them doing so. The case will be heard in the High Court in London over three days from Wednesday 15 – Friday 17 May.

Phil Michaels, Friends of the Earth's legal advisor, said:
"People have a right to know about the possible effects of chemicals being sprayed on their food and used in their homes. But the chemical industry doesn’t believe in openness and has gone to the courts to try and force the Government to keep the safety data secret. This is an important case which could lift the cloak of secrecy that has surrounded pesticide approvals for decades. Forcing companies to come clean about the impacts of the products they make will be good for democracy, good for our health and good for the environment".

Notes

1. The JR has been brought by Aventis and the Crop Protection Association against DEFRA. Friends of the Earth has filed papers in this case and will appear as an interested party.
2. The Environmental Information Regulations 1992 require that public authorities make available to any person who asks for it, without their needing to prove an interest, all environmental information held by them subject to a number of limited and specific exceptions. The law requires that these exceptions are interpreted strictly and proportionately with the objective of the legislation.
3. Advisory Committee on Pesticides, Annual Report, 1991 p.6-7:
“However, the scientific sub-committee considered that under certain conditions significant run-off or leaching could occur, leading to contamination of ground or surface water. Those uses presenting the greatest risk to contamination of ground and surface water included certain amenity and industrial uses, and agricultural stubble-cleaning use in autumn/winter. The Scientific Sub-Committee had proposed that no approval should be granted for these uses and that weed control uses be restricted to the period between 1 March and 30 September.”

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust