Chem import risk

31 October 1997

Chem import risk

USE imported pesticides with caution, growers are being warned. Some are not be what they claim to be. Recent analysis by the formulations section of the Central Science Laboratory at Sand Hutton, York, on behalf of the Pesticides Safety Directorate, shows some pesticides purporting to be the same as products approved for use in the UK are not identical at all.

The active ingredient may be the same, but in some cases the solvent had been changed, says CSLs David Mason. Even small changes in specification can have wide ranging safety and efficacy implications, he warns.