Pesticide Information

The ‘super’ house-mouse and the malaria carrying mosquito have made the news recently. They are just two of a growing number of pest species that are becoming less and less effected by the chemicals we use to control them. In Europe, this is quite literally a growing problem; agricultural yields are threatened by pest resistance, and regulations lack short-term solutions. The ‘super mouse’ is not a super hero, but its story may save us with the warning it carries.

Everyone has heard of Malaria, a disease that is estimated to claim between one and three million lives every year. Young children account for 90% of the deaths, the majority of victims are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor John Lucas, Head of the Plant Pathology and Microbiology Department at Rothamsted Research in the UK, was recently in Brussels to hand in a petition to MEPs that was signed by 72 scientists and agriculturists. The petition warns that the loss of pesticides could lead to serious problems of resistance in key crops in Europe (see previous entry). He granted us a few minutes of his time, during which we asked him about pest resistance, innovation in pest resistance management, the pressures on certain crops, and whether science itself might actually be responsible for resistance in crops.