Europol warns of risks of counterfeit chemicals

WITH a report yesterday from the European Union law enforcement agency Europol claiming that counterfeit pesticides now account for up to 25 per cent of supplies in some European countries, NFU Scotland moved quickly to distance farmers in this country from this illegal trade.

Union spokesman Andrew Bauer said that, while illegal pesticides were clearly a growing problem in some parts of the EU, they did not appear to present such a major issue here in Scotland.

However, he did qualify his comment by adding that Scottish farmers should be vigilant. “The reminder for farmers is that illegal pesticides are often produced by mixing together substances that either have little or no effect on controlling pests, or are actually harmful to the crop, human health and the wider environment,” he said.

The issue was first raised by MEP Alyn Smith who said the Europol report claimed that organised crime groups were “so well-structured and so professional” that wholesalers would be unaware they were buying counterfeit products.

“The trade in illegal pesticides is big business, already amounting to billions of euros a year and rising,” he said. “This trade is now so widespread and professional that it really is difficult to tell the difference between legitimate and counterfeit supplies, and even more so considering that, as often as not, these illegal products also use the packaging of big and well-recognised agrichemical companies such as Syngenta, Du Pont and BASF.”

He said that farmers should be aware that buying illegal products might seem like a good deal, they could be toxic to people, toxic to animals and damaging to the environment.

“If the deal seems too good to be true then it probably is, especially considering the high input costs that farmers are faced with at the moment,” he added.