The Co-op is banning over 20 pesticides*1 used for food production worldwide amid rising consumer concerns about the impact on human health and the environment of chemical residues.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The banned list, which includes hormone disrupters and organophosphates, which are in the same family as nerve gas agents, has been issued to all its suppliers.
The ground-breaking move comes with a challenge to governments, the EU, the agrochemical industry and other retailers to embark on a radical rethink of pesticide safety and regulatory controls.
The Co-op, which is also Britain’s biggest farmer, believes the Government, through the newly-formed Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, must follow its lead and apply the ‘precautionary principle’ to both new and existing pesticides.
That means a ban on any pesticide where there is doubt about its safety, even if the weight of scientific evidence is insufficient to prove this conclusively*2.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThe Co-op has drawn up a plan, after consultation with Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming and Friends of the Earth. It aims to raise flagging consumer confidence in food by encouraging more sustainable production.
The plan includes:
- A worldwide ban on the use of over 20 suspect chemical pesticides (6 of which are still permitted for use in the UK)
- Restrictions on the use of over 30 other chemicals where the Co-op will ask growers to use more benign alternatives
- Greater transparency by publication of the Co-op’s pesticide testing results on the Internet
- Support for an action plan, to be launched later this month by supporters of The Organic Food and Farming Targets Bill, to kick start UK organic farming
- A challenge to EU rules banning the sale of fruit and vegetables which do not meet ‘beauty pageant’ standards which can disproportionately discriminate against organic produce*3
- Labelling trials on conventionally grown produce
These initiatives are the result of the latest inquiry into ‘Food Crimes’, promised by the Co-op last year.
The inquiry – ‘Green and Pleasant Land’ – identified flaws in the approval process for the regulation of pesticides.
As a result, new pesticides can enter the market place without manufacturers having to prove a case of need or that they are better or safer for human health and the environment than what is already available.
The process for eliminating older more harmful chemicals that serve the same purpose is slow and cumbersome; and there is no fast track system to ensure potentially safer products, approved for use in other countries, are considered for approval for use in the UK.
The Co-op found that the majority of consumers are particularly suspicious of the health effects of pesticides and want firm action to reduce their use*4.
- 77 per cent are worried about the effects on the health of children
- 73 per cent are worried about effects on their own health
- 72 per cent are worried about pesticide residues in food
- 74 per cent are worried about the environment
The inquiry also identified that consumers believe organic farming has much to teach the rest of the industry about how to reduce chemical residues.
- 89 per cent see organic farming as better for the environment
- 74 per cent consider organic food safer for their family
- 57 per cent of consumers would prefer to buy UK organic food
But the UK farmer, seeking to convert to organics, is badly losing out to his continental counterparts. Subsidies paid by foreign governments to their farmers have given them the edge, which has contributed to an estimated 75 per cent of organics sold in the UK coming from abroad.
To help turn this round, the Co-op is supporting The Organic Food & Farming Targets Bill. This argues for 30 per cent of UK land use and 20 per cent of UK consumption to be organic by 2010*5.
Experts advising the Co-op’s inquiry estimate that with the organic farming scheme as it is this will require government support of £80 million per year over the next 10 years. Current government plans offer just £20 million a year, up to 2006, to help farmers convert.
It equates to a paltry 0.7 per cent of the £3 billion annual UK expenditure of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Whilst this is regarded by many in the industry as an important first step, the Co-op says it does not go nearly far enough if these ambitious targets are to be met.
The Co-op’s plea to adopt the ‘precautionary principle’ represents a major shift away from the philosophy of successive governments. The current line – employed with disastrous results during the BSE crisis – works on the basis that the public is not at risk when there is ‘no evidence’ of harm.
Wendy Wrigley, General Manager, Retail Brands for the Co-operative Group, said: “It is clear that there are serious gaps in our knowledge about the long-term effects of pesticides on human health and we believe there are flaws in the approval and policing process which urgently need to be addressed.
“For that reason, government policy should in future be based around the precautionary principle which puts public health as the over-riding priority.
“The Government admits there is uncertainty about a large number of chemicals currently legally used to produce food sold in this country and many are under review. Now the Government, which has accepted the need to block some chemicals, needs to go much further.”
She added: “Equally the Government cannot continue to bury its head in the sand on organics. This is a rapidly expanding market, but it is dominated by farmers abroad. The UK needs an organics action plan and a long term commitment from government to the farming community.”
Link to the full report as a .pdf
Notes to Editors:
*1 A full list of the banned chemicals is available.
*2 The European Commission recently concluded: “We still have a poor understanding of the effects of small quantities of pollutants that accumulate in our bodies as well as the way different contaminants interact with each other in our body.” (Communication from the Commission on the Sixth Environmental Action Programme of the European Community, Environment 2010: Our Future, Our Choice)
*3 The Co-op will today (July 2) defy EU trading laws by selling peaches which are now illegal because they are too small. These mean that a peach is not a peach unless it has a diameter of at least 56 mm. This discriminates against organic produce. Press release available.
*4 Representative sample of UK population, 1040 face-to-face interviews completed March 2001 (NOP Consumer Research).
*5 The Co-op is also supporting a proposal for a similar Bill in Scotland by Robin Harper MSP.
In November, 2000, Brid Rodgers, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, announced that she had made provision within the Northern Ireland Rural Development Plan to boost significantly the resources available under the Organic Farming Scheme. This will support 1,000 farmers during their conversion to organic production methods over the next six years.
An ISDN line is available for interviews on request.
For further information please contact:
Martin Henderson or Michelle Vernon or Francis Hallawell
Head of Public Relations PR Manager- National QBO
the Co-operative Group the Co-operative Group
Tel: (w) 0161-827 5292 Tel: (w) 0161-827 5290 Tel: (w) 020 7395 4433 (m) 07770 925959 (m) 07770 925958 (m) 07747 011981
