EU Fails To Reach Agreement On Pesticide Law
27 May 2008 Agriculture ministers in the EU failed to agree on a hotly debated piece of pesticide legislation at a Farm Council meeting in Brussels, according to Farmers Weekly Interactive.
Iztoc Jarc, agriculture minister of Slovenia and Farm Council chairman, noted that progress was made toward political agreement over amendments to the pesticide approval regulations in the EU. A compromise proposal received the support of the majority of member states, he added.
The aim now is to reach agreement on the proposals, which the UK’s Pesticide Safety Directorate believes could hinder crop production. One of the main sticking points, according to the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA), involves the “cut-off criteria” which would automatically exclude products based on their potential hazard to human health rather than on a scientific risk assessment.
“Cut-offs based on hazard are not the right solution to ensure food safety and this clearly needs more discussion,” said Friedholm Schmider, ECPA’s director.
The original proposals could remove up to 15% of the products available to UK growers, including triazole fungicides, which are crucial for the control of foliar diseases in cereal crops.
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