Fears over f lood of US toxic chemicals

SAVE OUR FAMILY FARMS: 3-PAGE SPECIAL Experts warn trade deal will bring poisoned foods to the UK

BRITISH consumers face being exposed to toxic chemicals linked to serious health problems if they buy food imported from America under a new trade deal being negotiated with Washington, a report warns.

Experts say supermarkets and restaurants would be flooded with cheap produce which has been sprayed with cancer-causing pesticides banned in Britain.

The Toxic Trade study also shows how US farmers use vast quantities of pesticides compared to producers in Britain.

US grapes are typically treated with 1,000 times the amount of an insecticide that damages sexual function and fertility, while apples are sprayed with 400 times the level of malathion, an insecticide linked to cancer and lung problems. And US sweetcorn has 100 times the level of a powerful chemical that causes severe headaches, confusion and weakness.

The findings come as The Mail on Sunday publishes a list of 70 pesticides widely used in the US but banned in the UK and the EU, amid serious concerns over health and the major environmental damage they cause.

The Government is embroiled in a fierce row over a possible sell-out of British farmers as Ministers thrash out a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

Boris Johnson has vowed to stem a feared flood of sub-standard products into the UK by insisting hormone-fed beef and chlorinate-washed chicken must be subject to high import tariffs. But farmers and environmental campaigners believe this promise is under threat after a bid to enshrine the pledge in law was defeated in a Commons vote.

The MoS has launched a Save Our Family Farms campaign to highlight the threat, and a recent YouGov poll found 71 per cent of Britons fear the trade deal will also mean larger amounts of pesticides in their food.

Dr Emily Lydgate, a trade expert and one of the authors of the Toxic Trade report, said: ‘It is highly likely the US will refuse any deal unless the UK agrees to step away from the EU’s approach to food safety – and it isn’t just about chlorine-washed chicken. It will mean that more of the food sold in the UK will have been treated with much higher levels of chemicals than UK-produced foods, and with substances banned in the EU.’

Campaigners last night warned that consumer safety and the environment were at risk, as UK farmers who would be unable to compete without using the same chemicals.

Josie Cohen, from Pesticides Action Network UK, said: ‘British farmers would face a terrible choice: be undermined by a flood of chemical-laden food, or use pesticides that no longer meet European standards, thereby losing 60 per cent of their export market.’

Vicki Hird, of the ethical farming campaign group Sustain, added: ‘This could finish off many farming businesses.’

‘British farmers undermined by a flood of chemical-laden food’