More Than Living

Will stewardship of aminopyralid herbicide prevent ‘bad manure’?

What do grow­ers make of the news that the herb­i­cide agent aminopyralid, which was taken off the market by its makers in June 2008, has been recom­men­ded for rein­state­ment to the market?

Sales and use of herb­i­cides con­tain­ing the hormone-​​based weedkiller were sus­pen­ded by man­u­fac­turer Dow AgroS­ciences last summer, after grow­ers began to sus­pect that animal manure con­tain­ing the product had been dam­aging their crops.

It emerged that aminopyralid – used to kill broad-​​leafed plants grow­ing amongst grass – was ’stick­ing’ to plant mater­ial used for anim­als’ bed­ding and feed, and ending up in manure. There it remained active for long enough to affect plants grown in the soil onto which that manure was applied.

How­ever, the latest meet­ing of the Advis­ory Com­mit­tee on Pesti­cides recom­men­ded that the product be rein­stated – sub­ject to a stew­ard­ship scheme designed to ensure the herb­i­cide is used correctly.

The stew­ard­ship rules include clearer and more rig­or­ous instruc­tions, a ban on using grass sprayed with the herb­i­cide for hay or silage, and a ban on manure that might con­tain residues being passed on to growers.

Uncon­vinced

The main points of the stew­ard­ship are sum­mar­ised on the web­site of Green Lane Allot­ments, where grow­ers noticed prob­lems with a vari­ety of pro­duce last year.

Susan Gar­rett, chair of the group, has been care­fully fol­low­ing the unfold­ing events, and doc­u­ment­ing reports from allot­ment hold­ers and garden­ers who appear to have been affected.

She believes that des­pite the makers and the con­di­tions of the stew­ard­ship taking all pos­sible pre­cau­tions, it will still be dif­fi­cult to guard against human care­less­ness in using herbicides.

“There’s noth­ing else they could have done to inform people about how to use it, but it comes down to people not read­ing the instruc­tions on the label,” she said.

“Increas­ing the power of the instruc­tions isn’t going to stop that.”

While the prob­lems that arose at Green Lane last year have passed, Susan wor­ries that people may cut corners again if min­is­ters decide to reapprove the product for sale.“The stew­ard­ship says that any manure cre­ated from plants which have been treated with aminopyralid should stay on the same farm,” she added.

“But it’s whether that’s done or not – that’s the crux of the matter.”

“So how do they get rid of it? Farm­ers and stable owners rely on off-​​loading manure into horticulture.”

Even ‘organic’ wasn’t safe

Last year’s scan­dal high­lighted the fact that the Soil Asso­ci­ation approves manure from non-​​organic sources as suit­able for use by organic grow­ers. It does this because agri­cul­tural chem­ic­als tend to have broken down before they reach the field, allot­ment or garden – but also because there simply isn’t enough manure pro­duced by organic farms.

Under­stand­ably, the Soil Asso­ci­ation has expressed alarm at the pro­spect of aminopyralid being rein­stated, and has writ­ten to Defra min­is­ter Hil­lary Benn demand­ing that its use remains suspended.

And although the Pesti­cides Safety Dir­ect­or­ate found last year that eating food grown with manure con­tain­ing aminopyralid had no implic­a­tions for human health, the incid­ent has fuelled dis­quiet about what else might be passing through the food chain unnoticed and untested – even in the organic sector.

For now, there is an e-​​petition asking the Prime Min­is­ter not to allow aminopyralid’s re-​​instatement that has thus far attrac­ted over 1,500 signatories.

Next move: the Government’s.

TOMATO IMAGE by Flickr user Oquendo
MANURE SIGN IMAGE by Flickr user batsignal

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Ori­gin­ally posted 2009-​​09-​​02 11:25:00. Repub­lished by Blog Post Promoter

Tags: Agriculture, Dow AgroSciences, Garden, Herbicide, Manure, Pesticides Safety Directorate, Prime Minister, Soil Association
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