Analysis by the Pesticides Action Network has revealed that the Conservative government attacked pesticide residue safety limits on a range of common GB food items including blackberries, grapes, onions and potatoes. Between 2022 and 2024, safety limits were weakened for 115 types of produce. While most of the food types affected are fruit and vegetables, the impact is broader and includes coffee beans and grains such as wheat and rice. Tea has suffered some of the most dramatic rises, with safety limits for the chemicals Boscalid and Chlorantraniliprole both increased by 4,000 times.
In total, the changes – which were pushed through quietly over the past two years – weaken the safety limits for 49 different active substances, 15 of which (30%) are classified as “Highly Hazardous Pesticides” meaning that they pose a particularly high risk to human health or the environment.
The government increased the amount of glyphosate allowed in beans by 7.5 times (from two mg per kilogram of food up to 15). Glyphosate is classified as a ‘probable human carcinogen’ by the WHO. Meanwhile, the safety limit for the endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC), Bifenthrin, has increased by 50 times in both avocados and pomegranates. EDCs can interfere with hormone systems potentially leading to birth defects, developmental disorders and reproductive problems. In contrast to these GB rises, the EU’s safety limits have remained the same.
Covered in The Guardian Far higher pesticide residues allowed on food since Brexit