Posted By Andrew Gordon Ian Just found this on google, hope it helps. Regards Andy PRESS RELEASE 21 July 2003 Illegal pesticides in your tool shed? In a dramatic move the EU is withdrawing eighty-one garden pesticide products from the UK market at the end of this month. From July 25th it will illegal for retailers to stock these products; from the end of December it will be illegal for householders to use them. Many local authorities are ill equipped to dispose of the banned and potentially toxic pesticide waste leaving gardeners with inadequate disposal options. New government legislation is urgently needed to ensure these banned products are properly disposed of to protect our environment. One of the biggest ever shake-ups in pesticide regulation is underway in Europe. Almost 10% of garden pesticide products are coming off the UK market with 24th July the last day for legal sales. This major product withdrawal is part of an ongoing process to harmonise pesticide regulations throughout the European Union. One of the benefits of this process will be an increase in safety testing. The 81 products all contain one of 6 active ingredients (2,3,6-TBA, dichlorprop, dikegulac, resmethrin, tar acids and triforine). The majority are weedkillers containing dichlorprop, and well-known products such as Roseclear 2 are included. These products can be used in gardens until the end of December but after this time will be illegal to use and gardeners will need to consider their disposal. Pesticides disposed of in bins end up in landfill and may contaminate surrounding land. Disposal down drains or in toilets will directly contaminate water supplies. Triforine, one of the constituents of Roseclear 2 has been show to be a reproductive and developmental toxin. It is vital that such products do not end up contaminating our environment. So what responsible options are available for householders with these products? Many local authorities operate civic amenity sites some of which provide facilities for residents to deposit hazardous chemicals like pesticides. However, other local authorities have no such provision. Recent research by the PAN UK indicated some local authorities are ill equipped to handle the upcoming disposals. They were shocked to discover that none of the civic amenity sites within Greater London are licensed to accept hazardous chemicals such as pesticides from residents. Instead thirty-two out of the thirty-three boroughs subscribe to a hazardous waste collection service provided by the Corporation of London. Although this is the only hazardous waste collection service for around 7 million Londoners their 2001 records indicate that only 51 collections of home/garden pesticides were made! This service collects many types of hazardous waste and is currently operating close to capacity. It seems unlikely that it could handle the additional influx of banned products. Many people are unaware of existing disposal facilities. Roslyn McKendry of PAN UK said ‘Even local authorities which have licensed facilities usually fail to advertise them. The service is expensive and frankly they don’t want to encourage its use. Most people if questioned have no idea what to do with banned chemicals.’ In the UK Local Authorities are not legally required to provide separate facilities for collection or deposit of hazardous chemicals from households. New regulations from Europe will continue to improve the stringency with which all sorts of chemicals are regulated adding to the stockpile of banned chemicals in sheds and cupboards. New government legislation is urgently needed to ensure these banned products are properly disposed of to protect our environment. A list of banned products is available at http://www.pesticides.go...rted_actives.htm#amateur *pesticide active ingredients refer to individual chemical pesticides **pesticide products refer to market formulations which contain a mix of active ingredients and other chemicals Roslyn McKendry, Pesticide Action Network UK, roslynmckendry@pan-uk.org, (020 7274 8895)