A PUBLIC MEETING arranged by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution about pesticides and bystander exposure has so far failed to grab farmers.

The meeting takes place in London on Saturday (Sept 26) and is part of a public consultation on the issue of pesticides and bystander exposure.

The RCEP announced in June that on the request of rural affairs minister Alun Michael it would undertake a study to examine the scientific evidence on which DEFRA had based its decision not to introduce pesticide buffer zones.

Later in the summer, the RCEP opened a public consultation to allow stakeholders to submit evidence.

But farmers and farmer organizations have so far not shown any interest in next weekend‘s public meeting.

“We asked invited stakeholders to notify us in advance if they wished to come to the meeting, but so far very few from the agricultural community have done so,” Dan Hamza Goodacre from the RCEP‘s secretariat told FWi.

Among the issues to be discussed at Saturday‘s meeting are: Why pesticides are used; pesticides regulation; pesticide application and dispersion; pesticides and health; pesticide exposures for people in agricultural areas; and pesticides and the public.