Blair U-turns on pesticide tax - Brief Article

Ecologist, The, April, 2000

Under pressure from the agrochemical lobby, the British government has dropped plans to tax agricultural pesticide use.

The decision, announced by Tony Blair in a speech to the National Farmers Union in February, has delighted agrochemical lobbyists. The tax, according to the government's own figures, would have reduced the quantity of pesticides sprayed on Britain's fields by as much as 20 per cent. But the British Agrochemicals Association (BAA) claimed such taxation would have robbed the industry of [pounds]320million a year. Instead, they proposed an alternative scheme, whereby farmers would agree to cut pesticide use voluntarily.

The government embraced the plan with open arms. 'We are committed to minimising the impact of pesticide use,' said Tony Blair. 'And that is why we welcome the recent proposals brought forward by the BAA which provide a basis for making progress with a voluntary partnership.' But staff at the Pesticides Trust, an NGO which campaigns against pesticide use, are nonetheless dismayed. They point to an experiment with a similar voluntary scheme which was tried in Holland, and which proved ineffective.