Topic: Aminopyralid Review Meeting Action Please

[Digeroo]

I emailed the ACP The advisory Committee for Pesticides on

acp@hse.gsi.gov.uk

and got the reply

Thank you for your email.  I will ensure that it is made available at tomorrows meeting of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) so that they are aware of your concerns.

If you are concerned about this product please send them am email asap.

The meeting is tomorrow,  Tuesday 30th June 2009.

Any concerns need to be expressed.

[tonybloke]

ta for the link, just sent them an email to express my concerns  ;) ;)

[Digeroo]

Thanks Tonybloke,

I am sure this has all been done before, but i feel strongly that we need to maintain the offensive.

[staris]

i've also mailed them  :)

[manicscousers]

me an' all  :)

[grannyjanny]

And me!

[asbean]

me too  >:( >:( >:( >:(

[asbean]

Just got an email with this letter attached:

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your comments about the use of aminopyralid and the resultant use of manure containing residues that has affected allotment and garden crops.

I hope I can provide some reassurance to you with this letter.  Firstly, I can confirm that residues of aminopyralid in manure do not pose a risk to human or animal health. The independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) has carefully considered a comprehensive data package that includes studies on the residues in plants grown with manure containing traces of aminopyralid. The Committee has concluded that if plants do grow in this manure, they will not contain residues of aminopyralid that will be harmful to health.

As you are aware there can be a risk to certain plants as aminopyralid is a herbicide (weedkiller) that is active at very low doses against a wide variety of plants.  The Committee is aware of just how upsetting it can be to lose your crops unexpectedly in this way.  They have therefore considered a number of restrictions to be placed on the use of products containing aminopyralid, along with details of a product stewardship programme, designed to ensure that users are aware of the particular requirements for the safe use of such products.  These new requirements would have the effect of restricting the use of the products so that any manure, produced by livestock that had eaten grass treated with aminopyralid, would not leave the farms on which it has been produced.  Similarly, there will be restrictions to prevent the contamination of hay or silage, and hence there will be no movement of residues of aminopyralid away from the farms where it has been used.

The Committee were satisfied that with these stringent controls in place, there should be no new manure available to buy that might contain these residues.  However, in addition to stopping the contamination problem at its source, the Committee have also noted that there might be gardeners and allotment holders who already have manure that might contain residues.   The approval holder for products containing aminopyralid, Dow Agrosciences has undertaken to provide a testing kit to allow you to check your manure, and if found to contain these residues they will arrange for it to be removed for you. 

Subject to these additional controls designed to prevent any further problems of manure containing residues of aminopyralid, the Committee has advised Ministers that they could consider lifting the current suspension on approval for the use of products, containing aminopyralid, on grassland for grazing, where products offer very useful control for a wide range of weeds. 






At the time of writing it is not clear what Ministers will decide in the light of this advice.

With thanks for your email.

Yours faithfully


 


Professor J G Ayres
ACP Chairman

[manicscousers]

can't remember who has a load of contaminated stuff on their plot but I'm repeating this bit for them

The Committee were satisfied that with these stringent controls in place, there should be no new manure available to buy that might contain these residues.  However, in addition to stopping the contamination problem at its source, the Committee have also noted that there might be gardeners and allotment holders who already have manure that might contain residues.   The approval holder for products containing aminopyralid, Dow Agrosciences has undertaken to provide a testing kit to allow you to check your manure, and if found to contain these residues they will arrange for it to be removed for you. 

[asbean]

I think they are going to have to provide a lot of testing kits - one kit per load of manure?  We have 10-20 car-loads a year, the manure could come from different parts of the main pile, put on at different times, and from different sources.  I would have to do several tests per load to be sure.

So where is all the contaminated manure going to be kept?  Farmers can't spread it on their land if they are going to grow susceptible crops, that's for sure.  And what will Dow do with all the sh!t they collect?  Hmmm, it's got to go somewhere, and someone has got to make some money out of it.  Dow certainly don't want to lose on this one.

[Eristic]

I'll tell you where it is all going to go. It is all going to go where it goes already. You cannot sue the manure supplier unless you can prove that the manure is contaminated and you got it from them, therefore the supplier will boldly state that the product is clean.

The user must assume it is contaminated until the users own tests prove otherwise.

You can ignore me, you can laugh at me but please do not fill the forum with posts next year about your sick tomatoes and beans.

[Kea]

What if you bought your manure who is going to compensate you for that?

[asbean]

What if you bought your manure who is going to compensate you for that?

No-one - because if it's contaminated no-one will admit responsibility for selling it to you. There are so many loopholes that those further up the chain can hide behind, that the only people who will not benefit from this is the end user - us.  And what's the betting that there will be an almost impossible obstacle course to get a pile of contaminated manure removed.

I wonder how the media will deal with this I think gardeners Q time and GW will be worth listening to, I think it will be along the lines of "new procedures are in place so future manure will be safe to use". And some people will believe it.

[staris]

can't remember who has a load of contaminated stuff on their plot but I'm repeating this bit for them

The Committee were satisfied that with these stringent controls in place, there should be no new manure available to buy that might contain these residues.  However, in addition to stopping the contamination problem at its source, the Committee have also noted that there might be gardeners and allotment holders who already have manure that might contain residues.   The approval holder for products containing aminopyralid, Dow Agrosciences has undertaken to provide a testing kit to allow you to check your manure, and if found to contain these residues they will arrange for it to be removed for you. 

i got the same reply and it's probably me you are thinking of i've got about 8 ton of suspect manure, i don't care about being compensated for the cost of the manure i will just be happy if they remove it  :)
i still don't see how they can control this from happening again so i think it's unlikely that i will be buying anymore manure.

[ceres]

And I'll bet that the 'testing kit' is a 3" pot and a bean seed.

We were told last year by the PSD that laboratory type testing was hugely expensive and not worthwhile because the quantities of aminopyralid are so miniscule and so tightly bound to the lignin that extraction to prove the presence of aminopyralid is highly unreliable and testing may well produce false negatives.  I confirmed this with the Central Science Laboratory and one other lab used by the PSD.

The Central Science Laboratory conducted one postive test to prove the chain of contamination where a farmer admitted spraying and the manure was reliably traceable through to the end result of damaged plants.

So now we have a cheap and cheerful testing kit which Dow are going to hand out free?

[Digeroo]

I thohg I would start another petition about this.  What to keep it very simple.

Our beans and other veggies are dying due to contamination of aminopryalid. Please do no allow the reintroduction of this product in the UK.

What you you think folks?

[Eristic]

And I'll bet that the 'testing kit' is a 3" pot and a bean seed.

I've patented that method so I think that should entitle me to shall we say, 5p for each broad bean seed sold. I can see a holiday coming on.  8) 8)

[asbean]

And I'll bet that the 'testing kit' is a 3" pot and a bean seed.

I've patented that method so I think that should entitle me to shall we say, 5p for each broad bean seed sold. I can see a holiday coming on.  8) 8)

Absolutely  :) :) :) :) :)

[Digeroo]

A broad bean seed is a bit of an extravagance.  Surely a french bean would be more profitable. ;D ;D

[Eristic]

If I wasn't such a nice chap I would have patented peas instead. 10p to pee, 1p for a test pea. Such a bargain.