The Case of the disappearing Garden Chemicals.

Having difficulty finding that garden chemical that you used to use all the time?

Remember Bromophos, Sybol and Calomel Dust, to name but a few?
Well, they've been withdrawn - along with over a 100 other Garden Chemicals.
This used to happen only if a Chemical was found to represent a health hazard; nowadays it is more often due to economics.

Before being released for domestic use a Chemical has to go through a series of safety tests. If successful the chemical is issued with a certificate, the number of which is put on each pack of the chemical - the so-called MAPP number.
Once issued this Number was valid until new evidence indicated the Chemical was hazardous and required re-testing.
In practice this rarely happened - just as well, as the tests cost in excess of £1/4m!

Each country in Europe had its own regulations on Hazardous Chemicals and the EU has attempted to define, Europe wide, what constitutes a Hazardous Chemical.
This resulted in many of the ingredients in our Garden Chemicals (and household chemicals) being deemed hazardous.
The EU is also demanding more stringent (and expensive) tests.
In the relatively small British market few chemicals sell in sufficient volume to justify the cost of development and testing new chemicals.
The result is chemicals are being withdrawn and not replaced.
If this trend continues there will soon be very little that the gardener can use.

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of articles for Gardeners and non-gardeners alike.
They will be based on the most frequent questions I get asked when giving talks around the country.

Article provided by Ron from West Carlston Garden Centre in Torrance.

Ron can be contacted at info@westcarlston.com

Competition:

Name the only systemic pesticide left on the British market?

The sender of the first correct e-mail will receive a £10 Gift Voucher.

Copywrite R. McInally