The Health and Safety Executive has published its Pesticides Forum Annual Report 2012, which looks at the use and trends of pesticide use in the UK.
Covering the work of farmers and commercial users of pesticides, the report highlights how the wet weather of 2012 meant an increased use of metaldehyde to tackle large numbers of slugs.
It also looked at how the EU Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides (2009/128/EC) was being implemented.
However, one environmental body that is part of the Pesticides Forum believes not enough is being done to cut pesticide use, and that the general public does not receive enough information.
The Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) said that while the forum serves a useful purpose it beleives that 'it has too often defended the existing uses of pesticides and paid inadequate attention to ways of reducing the use of pesticides in the UK'.
The organisation has criticised the report's coverage of the UK National Action Plan on pesticides, saying it is a missed opportunity to change methods of use.
PAN UK believes that it should be a requirement to inform local residents about the spraying of pesticides in public areas such as parks, hospitals and schools.
"We recommend that the Pesticide Forum focuses in future on non-chemical weed and pest control techniques for agriculture and amenity use," PAN UK writes in its conclusion.
"We also recommend that future annual reports focus on presenting valuable statistics, leaving readers to interpret these. We do not believe there is any room for complacency in tackling the considerable risks pesticides continue to pose to our health and environment."
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