Q1. How are pesticides checked to make sure they are safe?
Q2. How do I report an incident resulting from pesticide use?
Q3. How do I find out what pesticides a local farmer has been spraying?
Q4. Is there a legal requirement for farmers to keep a certain distance from houses when spraying crops?
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How are pesticides checked to make sure they are safe?
Pesticides can be dangerous. They are used to kill unwanted pests, weeds and moulds, so if not used properly have the potential to harm people, wildlife and the environment. We control their 'authorisation' (government license) for storage, marketing and use. Our policy is to allow effective ways to deal with pests and diseases whilst at the same time protecting people, animals and the environment.
There are several stages to get a pesticide authorised.
- Pesticide manufacturers send us a wide range of scientific data about their pesticide.
These must show that the pesticide:
- is effective;
- is humane; and
- presents no unacceptable risks to human beings, animals or the environment.
- Our scientific experts check the data. They make sure that the pesticide satisfies the three requirements given above.
- We send our report to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP).
- The ACP then advises the government ministers responsible for pesticides.
- If the ministers are content they will give agreement for the pesticide to be authorised.
- We routinely review the use of authorised pesticides and we also review them if we are concerned about their safety. If necessary we restrict or withdraw the authorisations for pesticides.
Link to further information on Pesticide Authorisations
Q2. How do I report an incident resulting from pesticide use.
If you believe the use of pesticides has affected anyone in your family, wildlife or the environment you can report it. We explain how to report your incident on our website.
Link to information on Reporting incidents
Q3. How do I find out what pesticides a local farmer has been spraying?
By law, all professional users must keep records for at least 3 years of all the pesticides applications they undertake. The 'Code of practice for using plant protection products' explains how they might record this information.
You can ask the farmer about what pesticides they have been using. They will usually just tell you: however they do not need to by law at the moment.
Q4. Is there a legal requirement for farmers to keep a certain distance from houses when spraying crops?
No, there is no requirement for farmers to leave an unsprayed area when spraying near houses. As long as farmers follow the conditions of use for the pesticide and the advice in the code of practice (see below) there should be no unacceptable risk from pesticide spray.
Before we authorise a new pesticide we carry out a 'risk assessment' to look at the effects on people living and working nearby.
- We work out the possible pesticide spray drift from pesticide use.
- We look at the effect of different factors such as wind speed, application rate, type of sprayer and the speed of any vehicle used.
- We use our results to set specific conditions of use for that pesticide.
Farmers must follow these conditions when using a pesticide. They should also follow the advice given in the 'code of practice for using plant protection products'.
The Code of practice for using plant protection products provides advice to farmers to carry out their own risk assessment before using a pesticide. They should:
- check whether spray drift is likely, taking into account how they will be applying the pesticide and the weather conditions; the law states that the use of a pesticide must be confined to what is being treated.
- consider telling people living and working nearby (this is good practice, but not always a legal requirement, depending on what and how you are spraying);
- take special care when spraying near vulnerable groups such as hospitals and schools;
- take special care where there are public rights of way.
Link to Code of practice for using plant protection products
The Good Neighbour Initiative
As part of the Government’s response to the Royal Commission’s study on pesticides, Ministers asked the National Farmers Union (NFU) to collaborate with industry partners and interested stakeholders to draw up a ‘good neighbour’ guide to advise and assist farmers and crop sprayers using pesticides where people are living or working nearby.
As a result the NFU has published the following Best Practice Leaflet and Spray Operator Guide in conjunction with the Agricultural Engineers Association Ltd (now the AEA), Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), the Crop Protection Association (CPA) and the National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC) and with advice from the UK Pesticides Campaign. These documents are intended to help spray operators to carry out their work responsibly and to take account of the concerns of residents living adjacent to their land. They may also be a helpful aid to rural residents who may wish to approach their neighbouring farmer with their concerns about pesticide use.
The Good Neighbour Initiative - Best practice when spraying near to residential areas (pdf - 1.45MB, 3 pages)
Good Neighbour Initiative - Spray Operator Guide (pdf - 206kb, 2 pages).
