More funds for pesticide control service urged

There is an urgent need to provide increased funding for the State's pesticide control services, according to the Green Party. Its spokeswoman on food and agriculture, Ms Paula Giles, said the need to destroy a large quantity of lettuce at a farm in Dublin because of excessive pesticide levels found in the produce underlined the need to increase monitoring of food.

Ms Giles claimed only a very small number of heads of domestic lettuce were tested for pesticide residue last year. She condemned the Government for not responding to calls for significant increased funding for the pesticide control service operated by the Department of Agriculture to enable it double the number of samples and compounds tested for. It was not adequate that "only about 1,000 samples from Irish and imported foods, including fruit, vegetables, cereals and meat are tested for residues each year, and 100 different pesticides".

Ms Giles alleged the Government was ignoring the fact that pesticides had consistently been shown to be present in a large proportion of foodstuffs whenever they were tested.