The founder of the UK Pesticides Campaign, Georgina Downs, has taken the Government to the High Court over its failure to protect rural residents and communities from exposure to chemically-toxic pesticides.

The accusations that Downs took to the hearing were based on a dispute over the Government’s notion that a person will only receive an occasional short-term exposure to chemical spray from one pesticide at a time. Downs claim is that this model leaves rural residents dangerously exposed to cocktails of different chemicals throughout the year. The Pesticide Campaigner points specifically to the Governments failure to protect residents and communities from exposure to the potentially harmful toxins, but also emphasises that the toxic pesticides are being sprayed near homes, schools, children’s playgrounds and other open premises.

The contention is aimed at the lawfulness of Defra’s policy and approach in view of the overriding public safety duty as required by EU and UK law – which states that before pesticides are approved for use, risk assessments must be undertaken to establish that there will be no harmful effect on the health of all resident exposure groups, including that of residents.

She argues that the Government’s only process of accessing the hazards to public health of crop-spraying is based on the model of a ‘bystander’, in which it assumes that there will only be occasional, short-term exposure to the spray loud at the instant of application only. It also assumes that exposure will only be to one pesticide at a time – which in any case, is by no means an exact measure for safety.

The UK founder of the Pesticides Campaign puts herself up as an example of someone who has experienced the fundamental flaws in the Government’s model, arguing that it does not address residents, like Downs, who are repeatedly exposed to mixtures of pesticides and other chemicals, throughout every year:

‘The fact that there has never been any assessment of the risks to health for the long-term exposure for those who live, work or go to school near pesticide sprayed fields is absolutely astonishing considering that crop-spraying has been a predominant feature of agriculture for over 50 years. The Government has failed (and knowingly continues to fail) to protect people in the countryside from pesticides which is definitely one of the biggest public health scandals of our time.’

Downs’ legal case is also arguing for the first time in the High Court that crop-spraying near resident’s homes is in violation of Articles 8 and 14 ECHR (the European Convention on Human Rights). Ms. Downs, who has submitted 3 detailed Witness Statements for her Judicial Review challenge, states, ‘The evidence really is quite clear that the Government has knowingly failed to act, has continued to shift the goalposts, cherry picked the science to suit the desired outcome and has misled the public, especially rural residents over the safety of agricultural pesticides sprayed on crop fields throughout the country. The Government’s response to this issue has been of the utmost complacency, is completely irresponsible and is definitely not “evidence-based policy-making”. It also appears incompatible with EU legislation on a number of counts and this is the reason I am taking this legal action, as the Government must be challenged over its failure to act to protect public health, especially in relation to babies, children and other vulnerable groups.’

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