Topic: Hormone Weedkiller in Manure

[Suzanne]

Its made the August edition of Kitchen Garden magazine as well - just got my copy today and its on page 6.

[ceres]

Thanks Suzanne.  Haven't seen it yet but I had written to the NSALG and they replied that there would be an article this month.  Will pick up a copy tomorrow.

[ceres]

According to Dow (in an email to me), only 675,000 tonnes of farmyard waste is used by allotments and gardeners.  I didn't ask that question.  The only possible reason I can see for providing that statistic is to trivialise the issue.

[Eristic]

But to put it into perspective that's nearly a million tons of contaminated toxic waste being disposed of illegally per year and Dow is the perpetrator of this crime.

[tonybloke]

If they spread it on grass land that's not illegal, UNFORTUNATELY !! and how did dow get their figures?? Loads of allotment holders collect their own manure and don't go over a weighbridge!!
As usual big agri business tramples all over the small guy!!  ( and dow saying that they informed farmers not to allow this into the food chain is a bit rich, cattle are part of the food chain!)  Has anyone from dow consumed this stuff?? why are they even allowed to sell this crap? Are we all being used as Lab Rats??
enough of a rant for now, must get back to my M.P. (again)

[ceres]

Paul Burstow, the MP for Sutton and Cheam tabled written questions in the House of Commons last week.  These are the first answers.  I believe there is another yet to come.  Not much help really.

Manure
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what representations his Department has received on the effects on horticulture of Aminopyralid in manure; [217528]

(2) how many incidents the Pesticides Safety Directorate has recorded regarding manure contaminated by aminopyralid in the last 12 months. [218325]


16 July 2008 : Column 435W

Mr. Woolas: The first inquiry relating to the potential effects of aminopyralid in manure was received by the Pesticides Safety Directorate’s helpline on 12 March 2008. Around 70 inquiries had been received up to 9 July 2008, primarily from amateur gardeners and allotment holders. It is not known how many reports of damage to crops are attributable to aminopyralid.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effects on agricultural production of the use of manure containing Aminopyralid; [217529]

(2) what guidelines his Department has issued on the use of manure containing Aminopyralid; and how and to whom such guidance has been disseminated. [217530]

Mr. Woolas: Aminopyralid has been granted provisional authorisation for use as a herbicide on grassland, following an evaluation of relevant data by the Pesticides Safety Directorate. These data indicated that aminopyralid may remain in plant material from treated land and pass into the manure of livestock which eat such material. Susceptible crops may be adversely affected by the residues in the plant material.

Labels of products which contain aminopyralid therefore include warnings not to use manure from livestock which have eaten grass from treated land, or fodder derived from such grass, on susceptible crops or on land intended for growing such crops, until all plant material has fully decomposed. As with all plant protection products, users should always read and follow the label instructions; this is a statutory requirement. Some cases of damage to susceptible crops appear to have arisen because the label precautions on the use of manure may not always have been followed when manure has been supplied to allotment holders and gardeners.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the risk to (a) human and (b) animal health of consuming vegetables grown in manure which contains Aminopyralid. [217531]

Mr. Woolas: Aminopyralid is a herbicide designed for selective broad-leaved weed control in grassland. It is of low toxicity to mammals. Damage to vegetables from aminopyralid residues in manure has arisen in part because the substance can persist in grass, hay or silage, and passes through the mammalian digestive system largely unaffected into the resultant manure, rather than being broken down.

The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) authorised the use of aminopyralid on grassland on the basis of data which showed that there would be no unacceptable effects on animals fed on that grass, or on their meat or milk. PSD has now assessed additional information from the manufacturer that confirms that using manure which may contain residues of aminopyralid in ground used to grow vegetables does not have implications for human or animal health. Even if manure were derived from animals fed only grass, or silage made from grass treated with aminopyralid and plants took up all the aminopyralid present in that manure, the highest residues would not give rise to consumer health concerns and the vegetables should be safe to eat.

[Robert_Brenchley]

He doesn't sound very concerned about whether you get any veg or not! But htat's typical of ministers. They're often not concerned to solve the problem, just to justify what they've done.

[moonbells]

"should" be safe to eat.

Humph. Another chemical gets into the food chain that we have no long-term data on...

moonbells

[ceres]

It is SO frustrating.  The information in those answers is already in the public domain on the PSD, RHS and Dow websites.  I think the wrong questions were asked.  The real question should be what is going to change to prevent this happening again.

Since this started I have written to the Plant Health Inspectorate, the Pesticides Safety Directorate, the RHS, Dow AgroScience, Gardeners' Question Time, Gardeners' World magazine, Which? magazine and Gardening Which? magazine, the BBC Countryfile programme, the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, my MP, the London MEP with responsibility for environmental issues, the Secretary of State at DEFRA.  Guess which 3 haven't even acknowledged, never mind replied?

[northener]

It really is wrong. I think the only safe bet is to let your manure stand a couple of years. The farmers who knew this and never told anyone should be bullwhipped.

[Trevor_D]

Still waiting an acknowledgement for either of my two e-mails to my MP! (One in a personal capacity, the other as secretary of the oldest allotment site in his constituency.)

[ceres]

northener, the experts are saying that stacking contaminated manure will actually slow down the process of neutralising the herbicide.  Soil organisms are needed to break down residues and in a stack there is limited exposure to the organisms.  While this stuff is still being sprayed, there is no way of making sure your supply is safe.

Trevor, does your MP have a walk-in surgery?  Mine does and I'm thinking of paying him a visit.

[northener]

So whatts the answer? work it into your soil and leave it for a year?

[betula]

Ceres...............you have worked so hard to keep us all informed what is going on...........Lots of thanks to you :)

[asbean]

Yes, I agree - a big round of applause.  I've been following this thread carefully, and haven't commented as I haven't experienced any of the problems associated with the contaminated manure, not have I heard of anyone on our plots who have either. But we use a lot of manure, so we've been lucky.

Interestingly enough, I worked in a Dow company about 15 years ago and the first thing they told me was that Dow was everywhere - everything you touch, see or use has something Dow has manufactured. Didn't expect it to be so true as is proving in this thread.

Well done, Ceres, it's hard work battling the big boys, but this is how disasters are avoided. Who knows, if no-one complained, and people start suffering from weird ailments in years to come and it's traced back to Aminopyralid the questions would be "why didn't anyone say/do anything"

Thank you for everything you're doing  :-* :-* :-*

[Trevor_D]

I worked in a Dow company about 15 years ago and the first thing they told me was that Dow was everywhere - everything you touch, see or use has something Dow has manufactured.

Yuck!!!

[Trevor_D]

Sorry, had to calm down a bit after reading asbean's quote....

Yes ceres, the walk-in surgery's a good idea; I'll look it up. Several plot-holders have e-mailed as well, so perhaps he might get more than one visit!

Concerning the advice to spread the affected manure back on the pasture, we were a bit concerned that this might compound the problem - especially as the pasture would be routinely sprayed next spring - so we have contacted Defra for advice.

No reply to date....

[ceres]

I went to my MP's walk-in surgery today.  He was aware of the issue - four of his constituents had raised it with him.  He seemed interested and sympathetic - he is very keen on allotments and has lobbied for more AND his wife has a small farm/stables.

He had already written to the Minister for Agriculture and said he would now write to Hilary Benn, the Minister of State at DEFRA.  I expressed my concern that because the growing season is well advanced, most people who are going to be affected have been and that because Parliament is about to go into recess, this whole subject would just slip under the radar now until next year, when all things being equal even more people will be affected.

He explained that there has been a Parliamentary rule change which now permits questions to be tabled and answered during recess so I gave him some ideas for questions to ask.

He remembered me from the Observer piece and asked if I would do another for the local press if he is able to set it up.  So, worthwhile queuing for 2 hours in a room full of, I'm guessing, immigration issues!

Trevor, let us know if you do get an answer from DEFRA.  I hadn't thought about the 'double whammy' effect on animals and crops/pasture.

How scary is that about Dow.  No company should be that powerful.

Thanks for the kind words of support.  It is very much appreciated, particularly as there is none at my site, quite the opposite in fact.  You probably wouldn't believe it if I told you!  Anyway, thanks again.     

[BAK]

apologies if this has already been posted somewhere else ...

fyi - somebody has started an e-petition asking for aminopyralid to be banned.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Aminopyralid/

e-petitions are a 10 Downing St initiative. You can "sign" the petition.

[glallotments]

16 July 2008 : Column 435W

Mr. Woolas: The first inquiry relating to the potential effects of aminopyralid in manure was received by the Pesticides Safety Directorate’s helpline on 12 March 2008. Around 70 inquiries had been received up to 9 July 2008, primarily from amateur gardeners and allotment holders. It is not known how many reports of damage to crops are attributable to aminopyralid.

This answer seems to underplay the problem - I reported our site which is 12 individual reports in effect. Our web page http://www.glallotments.btik.com/p_Victims_of_Contaminated_Manure.ikml has 34 reports some affecting more than one allotment site. I think that the PSD website puts people off reporting as it implies that they need to substantiate their suspicions before reporting. I have added a bit on our blog encouraging more people to report suspicions http://glallotments.blogspot.com/
I have also emailed Mr Burrows PA with some suggested follow-up questions.