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		EU threat to food prices, food supplies and farmers Monday, 12th January 2009 The European parliament will vote this week in Strasbourg on a proposal which would ban a wide range of substances which have been in use widely, and safely, in agriculture for many decades. The highly respected UK Pesticides Safety Directorate, in a recent report, claimed that this new directive could have a dramatic negative impact on food production in the UK. It could reduce crop yields by up to 50%. This would have a huge effect on food prices in the shops. It would lead to shortages, and probably to increased imports from other countries with lower food safety standards. It would lead to bankruptcies amongst farmers, and quite possibly the loss of whole categories of English crops, like carrots. Another effect of a ban in the EU on many pesticides could be to reduce the availability of these substances elsewhere in the world. The European parliament has heard from charities working in Africa who fear that currently controllable diseases, like malaria, would run amok without current pesticides, leading to greatly increased death rates, especially amongst children. Now a group of MEPs in the parliament is fighting back. Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris, with others, have co-signed three amendments which would help to limit the damage. They are calling for a full impact assessment which would look at the effects on food prices, availability, import levels, and on the agricultural community. They are calling more derogations for member-states to accommodate local conditions and local agricultural practices and requirements. And they want proper risk- and science-based assessments of chemicals used in agriculture, rather than the catch-all bans proposed in the legislation. Commenting on the amendments, Roger Helmer said "I intend to oppose the whole package anyway. But if we can get these amendments on the statute book, the whole package would be much less damaging". Chris Heaton-Harris added: "It is daft to be risking huge damage to crop yields in these recessionary times, and while we are worrying about food security and even asking for bio-fuels".