Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 480: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food, further to Parliamentary Question No. 474 of 30 June 2005, if her attention has been drawn to the recently launched UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Special Report on Crop Spraying and the Health of Residents and Bystanders (details supplied); if she will review the limiting of the time for crop spraying near to bee-keeping operations to the period from sundown to sunrise in view of the special report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32612/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the report and of the concerns raised with regard to potential risks associated with crop spraying. The report, commissioned in June 2004, was published on 22 September. The report reflects public concerns brought to the attention of the Royal Commission, recognises the lack of evidence of causality and recommends that risk assessment techniques and methodologies be reviewed and that additional monitoring and health surveillance be undertaken.

The arrangements in place in this country for the assessment of risks for bystanders who may be exposed when crops are sprayed take account of the most extreme exposures likely to occur and are based on consideration of health effects on all sectors of the community, including vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. Consideration is being given to the use of probabilistic approaches for the estimation of potential exposure workers and the public, an approach that is recommended in the report. The arrangements in place for the protection of bees are based upon identification of risks that may arise and the prescription of appropriate precautions to be followed when potential risks arise.

The arrangements in place will be reviewed in the light of the instruments adopted following the updating of the existing EU regulatory system for plant protection products and the adoption of the Commission's proposal on the sustainable use of plant protection products. The Commission proposals are likely to be tabled in Council and Parliament in the second quarter of 2006. The negotiations on the Commission's proposals will cover all aspects of the potential impact of plant protection products on human and animal health and on the environment