Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on domestic potato producers of banning the anti-sprouting component DMN while allowing EU potato producers using that component to import potatoes to the UK.

Before a pesticide can be used, its active substance must be approved and the pesticide itself must be authorised. Decisions on approval and authorisation are based on an assessment of the risks posed to people and to the environment. Such decisions are devolved and so are taken by the relevant government or by the Health and Safety Executive on its behalf. Decisions on the authorisation of pesticides for use in Scotland are not, therefore, taken by the UK Government.

The active substance 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene (1,4-DMN) is approved but at present there is no authorised product. All four UK governments have granted an emergency authorisation allowing the limited and controlled use until 31 May of a 1,4-DMN product to prevent sprouting of harvested potatoes. This emergency authorisation is granted in recognition of the need for sprout suppression and the lack, in certain circumstances, of alternative means of control.

Potatoes treated with 1,4-DMN are only permitted to be imported from the EU or elsewhere if the level of the chemical is below a statutory Maximum Residue Level of 15 mg/kg.