December 29, 2008
We recently spoke to Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, Executive Director of The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which was set up by the European Union in 2002 as an “an independent source of scientific advice and communication on risks associated with the food chain”. Ms Geslain-Lanéelle told us about EFSA’s remit, workload and resources; and went on… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
December 26, 2008
Sarah Pettitt, a farmer based in Lincolnshire in the UK, who is also Vice Chairman of the Board for Horticulture & Potatoes at the National Farmers Union, spoke to us very passionately about her fears concerning the pending revisions to the European regulation governing pesticides (91/414). Hear what she had to say in the video… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
December 22, 2008
A team of researchers of the Wageningen University and Research Centre (Agricultural University of the Netherlands) published on 28 October a 150 page report on the economic impact of the proposed revision of the directive 91/414 on thirteen of the most important crops grown in the Netherlands. Below is a summary of the report. The… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
December 19, 2008
Defra is to appeal against the judgment of the High Court in the recent case on spraying brought by Georgina Downs. In a debate in the House of Lords earlier this week junior Defra minister Lord Hunt confirmed that Hilary Benn had been given leave to appeal. ‘It is not appropriate for me to go… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
Professor John Lucas, Head of the Plant Pathology and Microbiology Department at Rothamsted Research in the UK, was recently in Brussels to hand in a petition to MEPs that was signed by 72 scientists and agriculturists. The petition warns that the loss of pesticides could lead to serious problems of resistance in key crops in… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
December 11, 2008
When I attended the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee of the European Parliament with colleagues on Monday to give evidence the question of an EU-wide impact assessment of the 91/414 revisions was again raised. The Commission response was that they had undertaken an impact assessment in 2006. However, this impact assessment is widely considered to… » read more
Posted by Wyn Grant
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Environment, European Regulation, Events, Farming, Food and Health |
December 9, 2008
We recently had the opportunity to talk to Richard Davis, Director of Approvals, from the UK’s Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) just a few days before the Directorate issued a revised impact assessment on the proposed revisions to existing pesticide legislation (Directive 91/414/EEC). PSD received a fair amount of criticism for its first report so we… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
December 5, 2008
This week a pesticide-resistance petition, signed by 72 scientists and agriculturists, was presented to the European Parliament. The scientists are concerned that revisions to the existing European pesticide legislation which includes reducing the number of pesticides on the market could lead to pests developing resistances to remaining products. The scientists say that fewer active ingredients… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
The content of this blog is taken from pesticideinformation.eu, which offers a number of resources to learn more about pesticides and to better understand the arguments for and against them.
