New EU pesticide risk assessment proposed

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is seeking comments on proposed guidance on pesticide risk assessments for workers, operators, bystanders and, for the first time, residents. The guidance aims to harmonise EU evaluations and provide more precise estimates on the risk of exposure to pesticides. Residential exposure became a prominent issue in the UK recently, where a campaigner initially won, and then lost, a court ruling against the government's risk assessment methods ( Agrow No 572, p 12).