============================================== PRESS RELEASE - EFRA Report - 4th April 2005 ============================================== Government criticised over pesticides as the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee recommend the prioritisation of pesticide issues in new report released today A prominent pesticides campaigner has responded to the publication of a report released today by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) entitled "Progress on the use of pesticides: the Voluntary Initiative," saying that there now appears to be a clear acknowledgment that the Government has been complacent over the impacts on public health and the environment from the use of pesticides. The EFRA Committee's report on progress made in the first four years of the Voluntary Initiative (VI) which is a package of measures, developed by the agricultural and agrochemical industries with the aim of minimising the impact of pesticides on the environment, concludes that some of the VI's targets are insufficiently challenging and in particular, that there is currently little irrefutable evidence of the environmental benefits that have resulted from the initiative. "Government is not placing sufficient priority on the safe and sustainable use of pesticides," the EFRA report states. Pesticides campaigner Georgina Downs who submitted considerable written evidence to the EFRA Committee and which is referred to in the report states "The use of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals has resulted in devastating consequences for public health, animals, wildlife, air, water, soil, food and the wider environment. This has massive economic and financial implications for all parties (with the exception of the pesticides industry) that are impossible to quantify. The Government has not taken these impacts seriously, particularly in relation to the links between pesticide exposure and human disease." Ms. Downs points out that last week in response to a question on pesticides from a concerned member of the public published in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner Tony Blair stated that "…even when approved, a close eye is kept on their use and impact." Ms. Downs says "This is just not the reality, especially in relation to adverse health effects. The Government has been provided with a considerable amount of evidence of both acute and chronic long- term ill-health impacts for people exposed to pesticides, in particular those living near fields that are regularly sprayed, as well as reports of clusters of cancers, leukaemia and other conditions in rural communities. Yet there is no monitoring for chronic effects and acute effects are commonly dismissed by the authorities as being unrelated to pesticide exposure. " Ms. Downs points out that a recent pesticides literature review by the Ontario College of Family Physicians found consistent evidence linking pesticide exposure to brain, kidney, prostate and pancreatic cancer, as well as leukaemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, neurological damage, Parkinson's disease and other serious illnesses and diseases. The review had found that children were particularly vulnerable to the effects of pesticide exposure and recommended that people avoid exposure to all pesticides whenever and wherever possible. A paper published in the current edition of the Canadian Journal of Public Health entitled "Pesticides and Human Health," by one of the peer-reviewers of the Ontario review has again reinforced the significance of the college's findings. However, despite all this evidence when asked by the EFRA Committee if there have been any investigations specifically looking into clusters of ill-health conditions that are being reported in rural areas, the response from Alun Michael, the Minister for Rural Affairs and representatives from the Pesticides Safety Directorate was "no." Ms. Downs says, "I cannot see how it can be perceived by Mr. Blair that a close eye is being kept on the impact of pesticides, if the reports that continue to be made regarding ill-health effects are simply discounted as insignificant, without any actual investigations." Ms. Downs points out that over the years, pesticides have regularly been removed from the market because of recognised health and environmental effects and that it is therefore clear that government approval is no guarantee of safety. Ms. Downs says "Lead, mercury, PCB's and asbestos are only a few of the substances that have received government approval in the past and have resulted in substantial environmental damage, severe health problems, massive clean up costs and in the case of asbestos, increasing legal bills." In their written evidence to the EFRA inquiry DEFRA and HM Treasury clearly stated that "If there is scientific evidence that use of a pesticide may harm human health, that is considered an unacceptable level of risk." In addition the Government regulators for pesticides, the Pesticides Safety Directorate told the EFRA inquiry that "public concern over health effects of plant protection products was put first in the list of issues that have driven the need for a national pesticides strategy." However, Ms. Downs points out there is barely any mention of health effects at all in the draft National Pesticides Strategy Consultation document that has recently been released, as it is centred on the environmental effects of pesticide use. Ms. Downs states "The regulators continue to maintain that a robust system is in place to protect public health. This is misleading and is not factually correct and demonstrates the Government's continued complacency in relation to the impact of pesticides on human health." The recent contamination concerning Sudan 1 showed that if there is any risk, however small the Government may claim it to be, then immediate action is supposed to be taken to prevent the publics' exposure and yet this does not seem to be the case in relation to pesticides. Ms. Downs points out that voluntary and self-regulatory measures have existed for decades, have not worked and are completely unacceptable in this situation. Ms. Downs says "A long-term approach is needed, rather than inadequate measures aimed at addressing problems only in the short-term. The impact of agricultural pesticides on public health and the environment is not going to be solved by a little "first aid" or by "papering over the cracks" as the whole core foundations and structure on which the current regulatory system operates is inherently flawed. Neither the VI nor the National Pesticides Strategy consultation document addresses the fundamental failings of the current system to protect public health and the environment from exposure and contamination of pesticides. The only overall solution to this problem is to take a preventative approach with the widespread adoption of truly sustainable non-chemical and natural farming methods to protect not only public health, but animals, wildlife, air, water, soil, food and the wider environment, for now and for future generations." ---- Notes to Editors ---- - The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee's (EFRA) report "Progress on the use of pesticides: the Voluntary Initiative," will be available on 5th April 2005 from 3.30pm at: www.parliament.uk/efracom - The transcripts of all the oral evidence sessions can be found at:- www.parliament.uk/efracom - The reports Ms. Downs receives from people all over the world, reporting acute and chronic long- term ill-health effects following exposure to pesticides was referred to on page 35 of the EFRA report - The response from Tony Blair published on March 31st 2005 in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner to a question from a member of the public concerning pesticides can be found at:- http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co.uk - The paper that appears in the current edition of the Canadian Journal of Public Health (CJPH) entitled "Pesticides and Human Health" can be found on the CJPH website at:- http://www.cpha.ca/english/cjph/cjph.htm - The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) is currently carrying out a study to assess the risk to people from crop-spraying and pesticide exposure. See www.rcep.org.uk for further information on the RCEP study - The presentation entitled "Pesticide Exposures - UK and International Policy Failings," given by Georgina Downs at the conference "Science, Medicine and the Law," on 1st February 2005 and the Green Party conference on 3rd March 2005 can be found at:- www.pesticidescampaign.co.uk - A piece written by Ms. Downs entitled "Pesticide Exposures for People in Agricultural Areas," appears in the current Spring 2005 edition of "Science in Parliament," the Journal of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee - Georgina Downs campaigns to highlight the effects of pesticide use in rural Britain and has lived next to regularly sprayed fields for 20 years. She was the first to identify serious fundamental flaws regarding the bystander risk assessment and for the last 4 years has presented a case to the Government for a change in the regulations and legislation governing agricultural spraying. She has also produced 2 videos "Pesticide Exposures for People in Agricultural Areas – Part 1 Pesticides in the Air; Part 2 The Hidden Costs" to illustrate chemical exposure and the effects on people living in rural areas. She has called for an immediate ban on crop-spraying and the use of pesticides near to people's homes, schools, workplaces and any other places of human habitation and for direct access for the public to all the necessary chemical information. - Ms. Downs' campaign has been supported by Samuel Epstein, Professor Emeritus Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. He is the author of "Stop Cancer Before it Starts," and is known a leading international authority on cancer-causing effects of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals (see http://www.preventcancer.com/about/epstein.htm ); Michael Meacher MP, (Former DEFRA Minister for the Environment and one of the Minister's Ms. Downs originally presented the case to); Norman Baker MP, the Liberal Democrat's front bench environment spokesman; Caroline Lucas MEP and the Soil Association amongst others Contact: Georgina Downs Tel: 01243 773846 Mobile: 07906 898 915 Email: georginadowns@yahoo.co.uk Campaign: "A Breath of Fresh Air?" – www.pesticidescampaign.co.uk