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Pesticides & Wildlife main topics
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More information
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Pesticides & Wildlife
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Sunday, July 6, 2008
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The registration and use of pesticides and biocides in the UK is carefully controlled through the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) of DEFRA (pesticides) and the Health and Safety Inspectorate (HSE) (biocides).
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SASA provides expert advice and services both within Scotland, to the Scottish Government, and in the wider UK context to PSD and HSE. A number of SASA staff participate as Scottish representatives in the various interdepartmental committees that coordinate the regulation of pesticides and biocides throughout the UK. SASA is involved in three main pesticide-related activities:
PESTICIDE USAGE SURVEYS
Information is collected annually on the use of pesticides. Surveyors from SASA interview a representative sample of Scottish farmers and horticulturists about their use of agrochemicals and from this sample an overall estimate of use in Scotland is obtained. The Scottish data is combined with England and Wales data to give an overall assessment of use in Great Britain The latest survey reports covering each survey type in Scotland are downloadable from this site.
FOOD SURVEYS
The possible presence of pesticides in the diet is monitored continuously by sampling foodstuffs on sale to the general public and measuring the pesticides residues in them. This is extremely exacting work requiring the ability to detect as many as 200 different chemicals at concentrations of parts per billion (i.e. 1 part in 1000,000,000 parts). The U.K. survey programme includes both imported and home-produced food, and covers staples such as bread, milk and meat as well as vegetables and fruit. SASA has experience across the range of commodities, but currently focuses on the fruit and vegetable sector.
WILDLIFE INCIDENT INVESTIGATION SCHEME (WIIS)
Many pesticides are highly toxic and WIIS provides a channel for the investigation of poisoning incidents on animals that are not the primary targets of pesticide use. Many cases involve wild animals, but others include domestic pets or beneficial insects such as bees. Poisoning can occur as a result of the correct use of a pesticide/biocide (for example the secondary exposure of some birds of prey to rat poisons), by misuse (bees could be killed by spraying crops in flower), or by abuse (deliberate targeting of birds of prey or other animals).
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