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Changes in pesticide legislation explained
Over the past few years, many gardeners have found that their preferred pesticide - be it for use against insects, weeds or diseases - is no longer available. The reasons why are rarely explained and often don't make total sense.
- The pesticide market
- What governs whether a pesticide is available to amateur gardeners
- Further reasons for the decline in products available to the amateur market
- Further information
The pesticide market
The sale of pesticides is divided into those for amateur gardeners and those for professionals.
Pesticides for the professional market are only sold to users who have have been trained and have the necessary certification to apply them and can store them securely. Uses are strictly regulated, protective clothing must be worn where appropriate and all use must be recorded. These rules are legally enforceable. The full range of pesticide products is available to professional users, who include farmers, commercial horticultural growers and pest control operators. This is, of course, a far larger market than that for the home garden market.
Pesticides for the amateur market contain a very restricted range of active ingredients which are formulated in such a way that they may be used safely without protective clothing, because it is recognised that amateur users could not be forced to comply with the same requirements as professional users. As a result, different and more dilute pesticides are available to amateur gardeners than to professionals.
What governs whether a pesticide is available to amateur gardeners
The decision on whether or not to sell a pesticide on the UK amateur market is made by the manufacturers primarily on economic grounds. To be sold legally, a pesticide must be approved in a two-stage procedure, firstly by the European Union (EU) and secondly in Britain by the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), an agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Obtaining this approval is costly.
There is an ongoing, EU-wide review of all pesticide active ingredients, both amateur and professional. The reason for this is that requirements for pesticide regulation have varied historically from country to country within the EU, which has led to inconsistencies across the EU concerning use: an active ingredient allowed in one country may not have been allowed in another. Also the amount of data required to support an application has increased over the years and older products need to be brought up to modern standards of testing. It will increasingly be the case that regulation of pesticides will be carried out to conform to a single EU standard.
To be sold in the EU, an active ingredient must be on the EU list, (known as Annex 1). To get an active ingredient on the list, the manufacturer must submit an extensive data package, which is costly to produce. Some older active ingredients are not on the list because the manufacturers did not judge it economically viable to go to the expense of seeking retention. The current, on-going listing on Annex 1 of active ingredients is part of the process of ensuring uniformity within the European Union countries.
Once an active ingredient is listed, national governments will still determine if products containing it will be sold, based on submission of further data on the product by the manufacturing company. This will only be done, of course, if the company judges the market to be profitable. For example, an active ingredient appropriate for control of grape vine diseases may be listed in Annex 1. Manufacturers are then likely to seek approval from the French authorities for products containing it, because the French market is large, but approval for the same products is unlikely to be sought from the PSD in the UK, because the cost of approval would not be economically viable for the manufacturer due to the very small UK vine market.
In the UK, PSD approval for both amateur and professional products is indicated by the Defra or MAPP (Ministerially Approved Pesticide Product) number on the package. A few substances, such as rodent poisons, ant powders, domestic fly sprays and anti-fouling paints, are regulated by the Health and Safety Executive, not PSD, and carry an HSE number. Some products, such as pheromones, grease bands, plant oils and fatty acids do not require MAPP, Defra or HSE numbers. The manufacturers must submit data to the PSD on product efficacy and safety. If the PSD accepts the data, they grant an approval which permits sale of the product for certain specified uses.
It is illegal to sell or use a non-approved substance as a pesticide, to repackage a pesticide in non-approved packaging or to use an approved pesticide for a non-approved purpose.
Further reasons for the decline in products available to the amateur market
There are at least four reasons why the already small number of pesticides available to amateur gardeners has declined further in recent years.
- All approvals are kept continuously under review by the PSD as new toxicological data are produced. If new data indicate that a substance is unacceptably toxic, the PSD will restrict or revoke its registration. Because older pesticides were generally more toxic than modern ones, and because our standards of what is acceptable have become increasingly strict since the older pesticides were first marketed, there has been a steady loss of older products from the market. This applies particularly to the amateur market for the reasons outlined above, but also to professional products.
- As part of the EU-wide review, manufacturers are being required to submit new data. Since generation of data costs money, manufacturers frequently decide not to renew their approvals on the simple economic argument that it will cost more to get the active ingredient on the EU Annex 1 than the market for products containing it is worth. Again, this particularly applies to older substances that no longer have patent protection and which may have been superceded by less toxic or more effective ones.
- There is pressure from parts of society for higher standards of safety. With pesticides, safety is measured by criteria which include residue levels in food and the environment. If public pressure results in a lowering of the legally permitted residue levels, it may no longer be possible to use a pesticide effectively while maintaining the new, lower, residue limits and manufacturers will then withdraw it from sale. This public pressure results partly from improved detection methods; it is now possible to detect much lower levels of pesticide than in previous years and this means that pesticides are now more widely detected. While it does not necessarily follow that these very low levels are a hazard, they do lead to an increased public perception that there are too many residues.
- Since 2000, the labelling requirements for amateur pesticides have been altered. Part of a pesticide label contains statutory conditions which are legally enforceable. The plants ('crops') that may be treated are one of these conditions and are now listed more specifically: prior to 2000 this was not the case. It is now actually illegal to use any substance with a MAPP or HSE approval for use as a pesticide for purposes other than those indicated explicitly on the label. At the same time, the labelling of the permitted crops has become more precise and this has led to a loss of many uses against minor problems,
especially on edible plants. Very recently, the presentation of labels has been changing and it is increasingly the case that the statutory conditions are not explicitly stated. However, they still apply.
Clarification of the information found on pesticide labels.
Further information
Advice on the safe storage and use of pesticides