I am very pleased to welcome you to the Pesticides Forum website.
The UK Government is firmly committed to encouraging the responsible use of pesticides. It supports its commitment principally through
a rigorous product approval system. However, many issues concerning pesticide use relate to the way products are handled and used. This is the area in which the Pesticides Forum, established in 1996, plays an important role. The Forum's membership brings together a wide range of organisations representing those who make, use or advise on pesticides as well as environmental, conservation and consumer interests. Many of the members are already engaged in initiatives to promote best practice. The Forum provides a mechanism for exchanging ideas and for encouraging joint initiatives to address particular issues. It also provides advice to Government on pesticide usage matters. I hope that you find the information on these pages helpful in gaining a fuller picture of the Forum and its work. We are always keen to communicate with you and welcome your comments and questions. Please feel free to email me at: pesticidesforum@hse.gsi.gov.uk
Best Wishes
James Clarke
Chairman, Pesticides Forum
Welcome to the latest report of the Pesticides Forum: ‘Pesticides in the UK – The 2009 report on the impacts and sustainable use of pesticides’.
Four major stakeholder organisations have all given their support to the publication of the Pesticides Forum’s latest annual report ‘Pesticides in the UK – the 2009 report on the impacts and sustainable use of pesticides’.
The organisations - Pesticides Action Network UK, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Crop Protection Association and National Farmers’ Union - all acknowledged the Report as providing the most comprehensive set of data regarding pesticide usage in the UK. The Chairman of the Pesticides Forum – James Clarke – welcomed the support and encouraged all those with an interest in the use and the impacts of pesticides to read the report:
“I am sure people will welcome one document that draws together the work of Government, industry and other important stakeholders to find ways of reducing the impact from the use of pesticides. The publication of the Food 2030 strategy, combined with the debate about the pesticides Thematic Strategy has, particularly in the UK, led to a more balanced debate on benefits and impacts of pesticides. As the new EU directives are implemented we will need to ensure that the role of pesticides in meeting all these challenges is properly considered. They can help in meeting the challenge of sustainable production, but also to play their role in ensuring a resilient, profitable and competitive food system, in reducing the greenhouse gases of food and reducing and minimising waste. Their use needs to ensure minimum impact and risk and balancing these priorities will be an important role for the Forum.”
However, whilst the vast majority of responsible farmers and growers follow good or best practice, he also gave some words of caution following the latest Environment Agency water monitoring results. He highlighted the finding of Isoproturon in samples at several times higher than the drinking water standard despite this active being withdrawn from use after June 2009:
“It is important to understand the reasons behind this but it is a cause for concern and undermines all the good work that has gone on recently, often under the auspices of the Voluntary Initiative (VI). Although it appears that only a small number of growers have used these products illegally it highlights the need for appropriate enforcement and penalties to prevent misuse by even a few.”
Please use the links below to view the report, but here are a few hints to help you find your way around the document:
- The report has been published as an Ebook. Once you open the document you will view it as you would a paper report. You can maximise the view by pressing the F11 button on your keyboard. Clicking the screen button (Ebook toolbar, third button from the left) will further increase the magnification of the text.
- Clicking on the left mouse button allows you to magnify your view of that particular area of page. To return to normal view move the cursor to a different part of the page and left click again.
- Hover your cursor over the buttons on the Ebook toolbar to see what they do.
- To turn a page of the report you can either:
use the arrow buttons in the Ebook toolbar at the top of the screen
or you can hold the cursor over the page and ‘drag’ the page over as if you were turning the leaf of a paper book.
- Please be patient when moving between pages as some PCs may take a moment to download the new page.
- Use the contents list (Ebook toolbar, first button on the left - green magnifying glass) to move to different chapters in the report and click on the button again to return to the contents page.
- There are links (green typeface) throughout the report. Click on these links to find out more information on a particular subject.
- The print button (Ebook toolbar, fourth button from left) gives you a range of printing options. Please note that the page numberings which appear in the print options, like those which appear in the Ebook toolbar, relate to the total number of pages in the report and are not, therefore, the same as the figures at the bottom of numbered pages.
- The search facility for the Ebook (Ebook toolbar, sixth button from the left - capital A and magnifying glass) works for the current view only. If you wish to search the entire document, click on the PDF button (Ebook toolbar, fifth from left) and, once the PDF version has opened, enter your search term in the box labelled 'Find'.
We hope that you find our report interesting and informative. If you have any questions about the report please email us at:
pesticidesforum@hse.gsi.gov.uk
We would also like to hear from you if you have any suggestions as to how these user hints might be improved. If you wish to be notified of any/all Forum papers, including publication of the Annual Report, then please leave a message with your name and address at the above mailbox.
You will need Adobe Flash Player to view the document in Ebook format. Please click here for a free download: Adobe Flash Player
link to Ebook version of report
Alternatively, if you prefer to view a PDF version, you can open the report with Adobe pdf reader.
Click here if you need to install Adobe Reader.
Link to PDF version of the report.
Report Resources: see Downloads, Links and Resources page for original images & graphics.