Robert Sturdy bemoans EU pesticides ban

Robert Sturdy, a Conservative on the European Parliament's environment committee, has deprecated a vote in the Parliament to ban a variety of pesticides. He comments:

"This law will drive up the cost of the weekly food shop at the worst time for British families.

We do need strong restrictions on pesticide use but it should be based on sound science, rather than on the whim of politicians. There has been no balance whatsoever in the parliament's position. MEPs have failed to see pesticides as necessary tools in maintaining our crops.

Many of the products on the market today are safe when used correctly, and have been around for years. Without crop protection products, our food supplies will be volatile at a time when food security is rising up the political agenda.

The Labour government has expressed platitudinous concern about the directive, but it has failed to put the case nearly as strongly as it should have.

It is ludicrous that such a plan would be brought into law without an impact assessment to gauge its consequences. The only hope we have is for a last-ditch effort by the government to demand we finally get an overall picture of how food production will be affected across the EU."