Crop Spraying And The Health Of Residents And Bystanders

This report addresses a complex and controversial issue: the human health risks associated with the use of agricultural pesticides. Some people are extremely concerned about their potential exposure to pesticides, arising because they occupy properties adjacent to farmland or because they have (or have had) access to such land, for example when using footpaths. The official position in the UK in response to these concerns has been that a robust approach to the assessment of human health risks associated with pesticide exposure already exists; and that there is no scientific case for taking additional measures, such as the introduction of no-spray buffer zones, to protect members of the public who may be in the vicinity of a sprayed area. But those who consider themselves to be adversely affected by pesticide spraying have not been reassured, and have continued to campaign for the adoption of more precautionary measures.

In pesticides, Graham matthews begins by looking at the developmental history of pesticides, how crop protection was achieved before they were in use, how pesticides are registered for use and what happens to pesticides in food and the environment. Pesticide application and operator safety is investigated an the future of pesticides in the light of the development of genetically modified crops is explored. * Provides commercially important information for the agro-chemical industry * Addresses all aspects of public concern relating to human health and the environment including spray drift, bystander, resident and worker exposure * Looks at the future of pesticides in light of the increasing prevalence of genetically modified crops

This timely Handbook brings innovative, free-thinking and radical approaches to research methods in environmental law. With a comprehensive approach it brings together key concepts such as sustainability, climate change, activism, education and Actor-Network Theory. It considers how the Anthropocene subjects environmental law to critique, and to the needs of the variety of bodies, human and non-human, that require its protection. This much-needed book provides a theoretically informed analysis of methodological approaches in the discipline, such as constitutional analysis, rights-based approaches, spatial/geographical analysis, immersive methodologies and autoethnography, which will aid in the practical critique and re-imagining of Environmental Law.

Crop protection continues to be an important component of modern farming to maintain food production to feed an expanding human population, but considerable changes have occurred in the regulation of pesticides in Europe in the last decade. The aim has been to reduce their impact on people and the environment. This has resulted in a major reduction in the number of chemicals approved for application on crops. In other parts of the world, a continuing expansion in the growing of genetically modified crops has also changed the pattern of pesticide use. In this second edition, Graham Matthews, updates how pesticides are registered and applied and the techniques used to mitigate their effects in the environment. Information on operator safety, protection of workers in crops treated with pesticides and spray drift affecting those who live in farming areas is also discussed. By bringing together the most recent research on pesticides in a single volume, this book provides a vital up to date resource for agricultural scientists, agronomists, plant scientists, plant pathologists, entomologists, environmental scientists, public health personnel, toxicologists and others working in the agrochemical industry and governments. It should assist development of improvements in harmonising regulation of pesticides in countries with limited resources for registration of pesticides.

Foreword by Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Scientific Officer for the Department of Health.

If farmers had to pollinate fruit and vegetables without the help of insects it would cost hundreds of millions of pounds and we would all be stung by rising food prices. Defra Ministers, however, have refused to back EU efforts to protect pollinators. Disease, habitat loss and climate change can all affect insect populations, but a growing body of research suggests that neonicotinoids are having an especially damaging impact on pollinators. The weight of scientific evidence now warrants precautionary action, so the Committee is calling for a moratorium on pesticides linked to bee decline to be introduced by 1 January next year. An EU-wide moratorium on the use of imidacloprid, clothianidin and TMX on crops attractive to bees, following a recent risk warning from the European Food Safety Authority, has also been proposed. Many of the UK's largest garden retailers have voluntarily withdrawn non-professional plant protection products that contain neonicotinoids. A full ban on the sale of neonicotinoids for public domestic use, which could create an urban safe haven for pollinators is recommended. The pesticide industry must open itself to greater academic scrutiny if it wants to justify its continued opposition to the precautionary protection of pollinators. The Government's National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides published earlier this year was a missed opportunity, according to the Committee. Clearer targets are needed to reduce reliance on pesticides as far as possible. And Integrated Pest Management - which emphasises alternatives to pesticides, but does not preclude their use - should be made the central principle of the plan.

Biological controls that utilize natural predation, parasitism or other natural mechanisms, is an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. Chemical pesticide methods are becoming less readily available due to increasing resistance problems and the prohibition of some substances. This book addresses the challenges of insufficient information and imperfectly understood regulatory processes in using biopesticides. It takes an interdisciplinary approach providing internationally comparative analyses on the registration of biopesticides and debates future biopesticide practices.

This book presents a fascinating analysis of expertise and policy formation, based on an in-depth study of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. The Commission provided expert advice to governments from 1970 to 2011. Often portrayed as a scientific body, it was in fact an interesting hybrid, which embodied wide-ranging expertise. It delivered thirty-three reports, leaving a significant mark on British environmental policy, and having influence within Europe and beyond. Drawing upon an extensive literature and a wide range of sources, Knowledge, Policy, and Expertise provides the only full account of this important advisory body, covering a period in which the policy landscape was profoundly transformed. It offers a rich and detailed analysis of authority, autonomy, and trust; of the diverse roles that advisors can play and the networks within which they operate; and of the circumstances of influence in which expert advice comes to be accepted gratefully, used strategically, absorbed in diffuse ways, or ignored. Above all, this book demonstrates the complexity and contingency of knowledge-policy relations, contributing substantially to a theory of expertise, and drawing out important implications for the future of good advice.