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Can you ask the Chemicals regulation Directorate the specitic reference to the act of parliment which makes home made pesticides illegal so we can read the actual.It seems stupid to ban everything sensible, and still allow aminopyralid to wreak havoc on the weedkiller front.
Posted At: Monday, August 29, 2011 12:12 PMPosted To: InformConversation: Legality of home made pesticidesSubject: Legality of home made pesticidesGood afternoon,I moderate one of the many gardening forums (allotments4all.co.uk), and a question has arisen over the legality of "home brew" pesticides. Many people use infusions of, for example, rhubarb leaves against various insect pests. Some people are concerned that, because such folk remedies are unlicensed, they are therefore illegal.We are not here talking about attempts to create banned pesticides in the garden shed, but simply traditional formulations. Neither is there any question of offering such products for sale.I'd be most grateful if you could clear this matter up for us. Any advice on the subject would be most helpful.Regards
From: Inform <Pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk>To: (Melbourne12)Sent: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:12Subject: RE: Legality of home made pesticidesDear .... Thank you for your enquiry. Strictly speaking, the use of home-made insecticides, herbicides and other pesticides – the term “pesticides” is used in legislation as an umbrella term to cover any substance, preparation or organism prepared or used for destroying any pest (where pest means any organism harmful to plants or to wood or other plant products, or any undesired plant; or any harmful creature) - would be covered by the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 which apply not only to recognised pesticides but also to substances, preparations or organisms prepared or used as if they were pesticides. These are UK regulations that require that all pesticides must have been granted approval by the relevant Government ministers before they can be legally advertised, sold, supplied, stored or used so the use of home-made pesticides would represent the use of unapproved pesticides and this would be an offence under the Regulations.We are aware that some gardeners and allotment users do make their own pesticides from household chemicals or other substances to control particular pests; for example, using rhubarb leaves as in your example, or using coffee or salt to repel or kill slugs. However, we cannot condone or encourage the use of such pesticides because such use is likely to result in the user committing an offence under the regulations even though such offences are unlikely to be prosecuted; it is usually difficult to obtain appropriate evidence and it is not generally in the public interest to do so. This does not mean that appropriate enforcement action, including prosecution, would not take place - while some of the home-made pesticides that gardeners have produced over the years are unlikely to have health or safety implications, others most definitely could - and where evidence was obtained that the use of such substances had led to serious environmental or health consequences or where “home-made” pesticides were being sold or supplied to third parties, this would potentially result in prosecution for a criminal offence.Similarly, we would not encourage the publication of information relating to the ingredients of home-made pesticides and/or methods of manufacture or use, although we have no actual powers to prohibit this. However, the publication of such information could be interpreted as encouraging the use of unapproved pesticides, and this could, potentially, result in the person publishing the information also committing an offence. We would therefore hope that anyone considering publishing information in this area will avoid references to specific home-made pesticides or their ingredients and methods of manufacture and use.By comparison, the use of home-made fertilisers such as compost or comfrey tea are not directly covered by any legislation, although we would probably not recommend that anyone try and manufacture their own “commercial” NPK fertilisers at home.I hope that this answers your questions but if you would like clarification or further information on any point, please let me know.Yours sincerely,Ian RowlandCommunications BranchChemicals Regulation DirectorateHealth and Safety ExecutiveMallard HouseKings Pool3 Peasholme GreenYorkYO1 7PXTel: (+44) (0)1904 455775Fax: (+44) (0)1904 455763Email: pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk
Posted At: Thursday, September 01, 2011 11:55 AMPosted To: IanConversation: Legality of home made pesticidesSubject: Re: Legality of home made pesticidesDear Mr Rowland,Thank you very much for your comprehensive reply.Just one small clarification, if I may: you say in your first paragraph, "the use of home-made pesticides would represent the use of unapproved pesticides and this would be an offence under the Regulation" and in your second, "such use is likely to result in the user committing an offence under the regulations".I have browsed the regulations, and I've seen the derogation for the use of foodstuffs as an attractant or repellant, such as jam in wasp traps or peanut butter in mousetraps - but presumably not beer in slug traps, where the attractant is also the biocide.I also understand that pursuing minor offences may not be in the public interest, and that there may be other offences to do with consequential environmental or personal damage. But as far as the use of unapproved pesticides is concerned, do I take it that it is always in contravention of the regulations, no ifs, no buts? In other words, it's what lawyers refer to as an absolute offence? Or is there some doubt, depending on circumstances?Thanks for your helpRegards
From: Inform <Pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk>To: (Melbourne12)Sent: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:25Subject: RE: Legality of home made pesticidesDear .... Thank you for your enquiry. The use of an unapproved pesticide is an absolute offence in that the pesticide is either approved or it is not, but it is only the courts that can determine whether or not an offence has been committed; if someone is charged with or prosecuted for using an unapproved pesticide; it is only if they are found guilty that they would be deemed to have committed the offence. Since I was describing the general position, I had to take account of the fact that there might be reasons why a court would not find someone guilty in particular circumstances.I hope that this answers your questions but if you would like clarification or further information on any point, please let me know.Yours sincerely,Ian RowlandCommunications BranchChemicals Regulation DirectorateHealth and Safety ExecutiveMallard HouseKings Pool3 Peasholme GreenYorkYO1 7PXTel: (+44) (0)1904 455775Fax: (+44) (0)1904 455763Email: pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk
According to the experts on television last night, Wild Things Ch4, there is no natural predator that attacks rhododendrons because the leaves and everything else are toxic to insects. Does anyone know if we can take the leaves and steep, boil, distill or otherwise make a pesticide from them?Tomato leaves were not that succesful but, given the rain we had I wasn't surprised. I really don't want to spend on chemicals that kill everything on the plot.
Can't help with the rhody leaves I'm afraid but an initial small trial surely can't hurt and you never know till you give it a try.After all there isn't a commercial treatment for onion white rot and we are told it is untreatable. But there is now a growing body of evidence that spreading pulverized alliums (onion, garlic etc) on the onion bed a few months in advance of planting the onion crop reduces white rot noticeably.Likewise it is against EU regs to use soapy water to control aphids. But nothing to say you can't wash your plants and if a few aphids succumb, well, it's just collateral damage.