Advisory Committee on Pesticides Annual Report 2001

<strong>Advisory</strong> <strong>Committee</strong> on Pesticides Annual Report 2001
were more likely to apply fabric treatments, while the application of both
fabric and grain treatments was more prevalent in the South Western region.
A single commercial store in Wales was encountered in the sample which
applied both fabric and grain treatments.
Approximately 4.7 tonnes of pesticides were applied in commercial grain
stores in Great Britain with Scotland, accounting for 38 percent of the weight,
Eastern region 24 percent, Northern region 23 percent, Midlands and Western
region 11 percent, South Western region three percent, South Eastern region
one percent and Wales less than one percent.
By weight, 80 percent of pesticides was applied to the grain either at or
during storage. Pirimiphos-methyl accounted for 61 percent of the weight
of pesticide applied, either as admixture treatments or incorporated into the
surface or the grain in store. Of all grain treated, 92 percent by weight was
treated with an admixture, the rest receiving surface treatments.
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The remaining 20 percent of pesticides were applied as fabric treatments,
with pirimiphos-methyl accounting for 53 percent of all fabric treatments and
methyl bromide a further 37 percent.
Contractors applied 50 percent, by weight applied, of fabric treatments but
only eight percent of the admixture treatments. The use of methyl bromide,
which can be applied only by contractors, accounted for the bulk of
contractor applications made to the fabric.
In terms of the number of stores treated, rodenticides were used on
96 percent of commercial grain stores in Great Britain in 1998. Difenacoum
was the most commonly occurring rodenticide, being used at 35 percent of
all commercial grain stores, followed by bromadiolone at 25 percent.
Excluding holdings where the product used was unknown, these two active
substances accounted for 68 percent of all recorded occurrences.
Totals of just under one kilogram of active substance and approximately ten
tonnes of bait were recorded in the current survey, reflecting the extremely
low percentage of active substance contained within rodenticide baits.
Since the survey conducted in 1994/95, the tonnage of grain stored had more
than doubled, with some of the increase being due to the storage of
intervention grain, which was minimal in the previous survey period.
The weight of active substances applied had increased by 40 percent, which
is significantly less than the increase in the grain stored since 1994/95. There
had been a continued decrease in the number of active substances applied