杏吧原创

DRACONIAN regulations are depriving Europe鈥檚 farmers of eco-friendly 鈥渂iopesticides鈥�. Unless the laws are eased or changed, their development will be abandoned, says Mark Whittaker of biopesticide company Koppert UK in Suffolk.

鈥淭he situation has been bleak in the UK for a long time, and it鈥檚 just as unsatisfactory in other European countries,鈥� Whittaker will tell a conference on biopesticides next week. Yet in the US biopesticides are flourishing, thanks to regulations introduced in 1996 by the US Environmental Protection Agency to encourage safer pest control by fast-tracking their approval.

The EPA鈥檚 definition of biopesticides is very broad, including naturally occurring toxins or pheromones and the genes that encode them as well as diseases that kill pests, such as the widely used bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt. But in Europe the same regulatory criteria apply to synthetic pesticides and any form of biopesticide, although the UK only charges 拢45,000, half the normal application fee. But because the market for biopesticides is usually small, as they are mostly used in greenhouses, or by organic farmers, the costs of getting approval can still outweigh any potential profits.

Regulators in Europe also demand proof that products work, whereas the EPA lets farmers make up their own minds about biopesticides. It is far harder to prove that a live biopesticide such as a fungus works, Whittaker says, since they are slow-acting and are more sensitive to environmental conditions. 鈥淭he authorities can request additional studies,鈥� says Whittaker. 鈥淭his is the point where costs spiral out of control.鈥�

Whittaker and others are hopeful that things might improve in the UK at least, where the government鈥檚 Advisory Committee on Pesticides is looking into the issue, and fees are being reduced still further in a pilot scheme. He stresses that he is not advocating any easing of safety standards. There have been reports of Bt and other pesticidal bacteria causing human infections (New 杏吧原创, 23 May 1998, p 5).