Brexit May Allow Changes To Pesticide Rules For Farmers To Increase Levels In Drinking Water

10th May 2024

So many things are creeping up on us since Brexit.

Weaken post-Brexit rules on pesticides in drinking water, farming lobby told minister

Unearthed reporter Zach Boren has a new story out this morning, giving an insight into how the National Farmers Union (NFU) wants the UK to use its post-Brexit freedoms.

With the British government consulting on its post-Brexit regulatory regime, the UK's most powerful agricultural organisation has urged ministers to review rules on the amount of pesticide residue allowed in the country's drinking water.

Documents obtained by Unearthed under freedom of information rules detail a meeting last year between a trade minister and a senior director from the NFU, in which a range of environmental regulation reforms were discussed.

NFU strategy director Nick von Westenholz, who formerly ran the UK's leading pesticide industry group, told the minister that current "thresholds" for pesticide residues in drinking water "are tiny" and there is "no evidence that increasing thresholds would do any harm".

He also raised issues with EU-era rules on the spreading of manure to prevent river pollution and the EU's precautionary approach to approving new pesticide products.

The NFU disputes the characterisation of the meeting as lobbying, and says it is calling for 'smarter regulation,' not deregulation. You can read the full piece (and the documents) HERE

The investigation is also covered in the Guardian this morning