STOP THE USE OF LANATE NOW!

The House of Representatives may have failed to vote in the first time and has been endlessly postponing the discussion of the subject the second time the Green’s draft bill of law for banning products that contain methomyl was submitted, but the European Commission’s decision No 670/2007 justifies their concerns and efforts.

The European Commission on the 19th of September 2007 decided to not register the substance methomyl in appendix 1 of the 91/414/ΕEC Directive of the Council and the recall of the previous approvals for phytoprotection products that contain it.
In its decision (2007/628/ΕΚ) it mentions that during the evaluation of this potent substance many reasons for concern surfaced. In particular, based on available information, the exposure of the user exceeded the ΑOEL (Acceptable Operator Exposure Level) standards and has not proven to be acceptable. Furthermore, concerning eco-toxicology, there are concerns due to the high danger that birds, mammals, water organisms, bees and not targeted creatures face.

It is also mentioned that:
· The authorisations of phytoprotection products that contain methomyl are to be recalled by the 19th of March 2008.
· From the date of the publication of this decision no authorisations are to be issued or renewed for such products.
· Any potential grace period offered by the member-states according to article 4, paragraph 6 or the Directive 91/414/EEC should be as short as possible and expire the latest by the 19th of March 2009.

Today lanate, as well as all the chemical concoctions used in agriculture are sold to anybody that asks for them, resulting in their use to poison animals but also people (we have had suicide cases in Cyprus), or for any other malign or ill use other than its specifications. The legal banning of lanate and the legal regulation of the distribution of these products should have been dealt with a long time ago.
Originally in 2004 George Perdikes, the Green Party’s MP had submitted a draft bill of law to this aim, called “For the Protection of Domestic Animals Law (poisons)” that outlawed the use of products containing methomyl, commonly called lanate, but it was voted out by all the other political parties. When he was re-elected in 2006 he resubmitted the draft bill and it has been pending ever since. Hundreds of citizens have supported our efforts with their signature.
With recent developments the Cyprus Green Party announces today (four years after the first failed attempt to vote the legislation into the House of Representatives) to withdraw its draft bill stating their disappointment because four years of avoiding the poisoning of animals (mainly dogs and birds) by lanate have been lost, as well as preventing health disorders of its users.
We ask that pesticides that contain methomyl are immediately withdrawn from the market.
4 years have been lost with the responsibility of the other political parties, let’s not loose another year with the excuse of exhausting merchants stock of such products.
This substance has been proven highly toxic and its use should be halted immediately!