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EU to debate pesticide ban on highly toxic aldicarb |
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| BELGIUM: February 17, 2003 | ||
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BRUSSELS - European Union farm ministers will vote next week on a proposal to outlaw aldicarb, a worm-killing pesticide used on sugar beet and root vegetables that has raised the hackles of environmentalists for years.
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Aldicarb, which according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is one of the most acutely toxic pesticides still in use, will feature on the ministers' agenda at their meeting next Thursday as a candidate for being removed from EU markets. "Aldicarb is a pesticide for which we've been calling for a ban for some time, so we'd like to see it go," Sandra Bell, pesticides advisor to environmental group Friends of the Earth, told Reuters. If the ministers agree to remove aldicarb from the EU-wide list of authorised pesticides, it would first be withdrawn from sale, to be followed by a period when it could still be used by farmers, then a period when it would be illegal to store it. In Europe, it is used particularly in soil to control nematodes - or microscopic worms - along with chewing and sucking insects attracted to various root crops such as sugar beet, potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips, for example. According to the WHO website, aldicarb is very soluble in water and highly mobile in soil where it persists for weeks to months. It is frequently found as a contaminant in ground water.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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