=============== PRESS RELEASE =============== Rural residents disappointed by delay on Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution report on pesticides The eagerly awaited report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution on the risks to people from crop-spraying and pesticide exposure has now been delayed for an extra 3 months. This has added frustration to rural residents and communities, currently in the midst of the agricultural spraying season, who will now have to wait until mid-September to hear the Royal Commission's findings. Leading pesticides campaigner Georgina Downs who for the last 4 years has been highlighting the inadequacy and serious fundamental flaws throughout the existing regulations and monitoring system for pesticides, particularly in relation to people living in rural areas says that the delay is "extremely disappointing". Ms. Downs states "The Royal Commission's pesticides and bystander exposure study is the most important enquiry undertaken to date on the risks to people in the countryside from crop- spraying and pesticide exposure. Therefore quite naturally rural residents and communities all over the country are keen to discover the outcome of the Royal Commission's deliberations as soon as possible in the hope that the protection of public health and the environment may finally be given the high priority it deserves." Kay Wadey and her 3 children live surrounded by sprayed fields in Cambridgeshire and were visited by all the Royal Commission members during the course of their investigations. Ms. Wadey states "It is rather short notice to be announcing a postponement considering it is now almost the middle of May and the original publication date was just over a month away." However, Ms. Downs points out that despite the disappointment, if the delay means that there is a more thorough examination of the evidence then that is obviously the most important factor. She states "This is a massive and complex issue and the Royal Commission's report could have far reaching consequences in relation to how this issue is taken forward not only in the UK, but all over the world and therefore it obviously requires very careful examination and consideration." A member of the Royal Commission secretariat said that the members of the Commission were also disappointed that the publication of the study has had to be delayed, but that it was necessary for further clarification of the evidence. Notes to Editors: - For further information on the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution pesticides and bystander exposure study see www.rcep.org.uk - Georgina Downs campaigns to highlight the effects of pesticide use in rural Britain and has lived next to regularly sprayed fields for 20 years. She was the first to identify serious fundamental flaws regarding the bystander risk assessment and for the last 3 years has presented a case to the Government for a change in the regulations and legislation governing agricultural spraying. She has also produced 2 videos "Pesticide Exposures for People in Agricultural Areas – Part 1 Pesticides in the Air; Part 2 The Hidden Costs" to illustrate chemical exposure and the effects on people living in rural areas. She has called for an immediate ban on crop-spraying and the use of pesticides near to people's homes, schools, workplaces and any other places of human habitation and for direct access for the public to all the necessary chemical information - Ms Downs continues to receive emails and letters from people all over the country reporting clusters of acute and chronic long-term illnesses and diseases in communities surrounded by sprayed fields. The most common illnesses reported include clusters of various cancers, leukaemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and neurological problems along with many other medical conditions and Ms. Downs points out that reports of this nature have gone on for decades - On September 16th 2004 Ms. Downs put in an application to the High Court to Judicially Review DEFRA's decision not to introduce no-spray zones around agricultural land to protect rural residents from the use of pesticides by farmers - The presentation entitled "Pesticide Exposures - UK and International Policy Failings," given by Georgina Downs at the conference "Science, Medicine and the Law," on 1st February 2005 and the Green Party conference on 3rd March 2005 can be found at:- www.pesticidescampaign.co.uk - Ms. Downs' campaign has been supported by Samuel Epstein, Professor Emeritus Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. He is the author of "Stop Cancer Before it Starts," and is known a leading international authority on cancer- causing effects of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals (see http://www.preventcancer.com/about/epstein.htm ); Michael Meacher MP, (Former DEFRA Minister for the Environment and one of the Minister's Ms. Downs originally presented the case to); Norman Baker MP, the Liberal Democrat's front bench environment spokesman; Caroline Lucas MEP and the Soil Association amongst others www.pesticidescampaign.co.uk Contact: Georgina Downs Telephone: 01243 773846 Mobile: 07906 898 915 Email: georginadowns@yahoo.co.uk Campaign: "A Breath of Fresh Air?"