Azoxystrobin or flutolanil use on public fields

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs did not have the information requested.

Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,

Had azoxystrobin and/or flutolanil and/or any other fungicide been used to kill mushrooms on public fields around London and elsewhere? Is it ongoing? Please provide all the detail including any assesments of environmental impact.

For background, and for example; large swathes of land in Richmond Park and Cockfosters obviously continue to contain far 10% of all varieties of mushrooms in comparison with the 1980s.

Yours faithfully,

James Cameron

Helpline, Defra (MCU), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Thank you for your email. We have a target of replying to emails within 15
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Best wishes,
Ministerial Contact Unit
 
 

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

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Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,

That should say 'Far under 10%'

Yours faithfully,

James Cameron

Helpline, Defra (MCU), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Thank you for your email. We have a target of replying to emails within 15
working days where a response is required, and 20 working days where a
case is handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If you need a reply before
then, please call the Defra Helpline on 03459 33 55 77, or visit
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati....
We often receive thousands of identical emails each month from organised
campaigns. Ministers and officials are made aware of these campaigns, but
unfortunately we cannot reply to each email when such large volumes are
received.
Best wishes,
Ministerial Contact Unit
 
 

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

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If you have received it in error you have no authority to use, disclose,
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Dear Helpline, Defra (MCU),

The response is running late.

Yours sincerely,

James Cameron

Helpline, Defra (MCU), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Thank you for your email. We have a target of replying to emails within 15
working days where a response is required, and 20 working days where a
case is handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If you need a reply before
then, please call the Defra Helpline on 03459 33 55 77, or visit
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati....
We often receive thousands of identical emails each month from organised
campaigns. Ministers and officials are made aware of these campaigns, but
unfortunately we cannot reply to each email when such large volumes are
received.
Best wishes,
Ministerial Contact Unit
 
 

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

This email and any attachments is intended for the named recipient only.
If you have received it in error you have no authority to use, disclose,
store or copy any of its contents and you should destroy it and inform the
sender.
Whilst this email and associated attachments will have been checked for
known viruses whilst within Defra systems we can accept no responsibility
once it has left our systems.
Communications on Defra's computer systems may be monitored and/or
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lawful purposes.

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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Cameron,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request of 19 November
2016 sent via WhatDoTheyKnow.com concerning “whether azoxystrobin and/or
flutolanil and/or any other fungicide (have) been used to kill mushrooms
on public fields around London and elsewhere”. I have been asked to reply
and apologise for the delay in doing so.

The information you have requested is not held by Defra, nor is it held by
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which acts as the UK pesticides
regulator. Responsibility for the application of pesticides in the
situation you describe is the responsibility of local authorities,
therefore you would need to contact the appropriate local authority (such
as for the Richmond Park and Cockfosters areas you have highlighted).
However, I suggest you contact the Local Government Association (LGA)
(Email: [1][email address]) in the first instance so that it can advise
you how best to proceed with your request.

We can provide you with some general information on pesticides and the
historical and current authorisation status of azoxystrobin and flutolanil
which may help you with any subsequent enquiries with the LGA. As this
information is already publically accessible, we have handled your request
as normal correspondence (rather than under the terms of the FOI Act or
the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs).

Under European pesticides legislation (Regulation EC No. 1107/2009),
pesticide active substances are evaluated at Community level. If an active
substance meets EU safety requirements, the products containing that
active substance can then be considered for authorisation by Member
States, taking into account individual agronomic, climatic and dietary
circumstances. All pesticides are strictly regulated and are only
authorised if the risk assessment finds that their use is not expected to
have harmful effects on human health or to have unacceptable effects on
the environment.

AZOXYSTROBIN

There are/have been 14 pesticide products authorised for use on managed
amenity turf and amenity grassland which could have been used in parks.
The definition of these uses is as follows:

Managed Amenity Turf - areas of frequently mown (i.e. once a week)
intensively managed turf, including fields being used for turf production.
This may include areas for public use including sports turf, golf greens,
tees and fairways.

Amenity Grassland - areas of semi-natural or planted grassland subject to
minimal or non-intensive management. Includes areas that may be accessed
by the public, such as golf roughs. This may include airfields and
predominantly grassed railway embankments and roadside verges. Such areas
may be floristically rich and irregularly managed so that plants may
flower and set seed.

Four of these 14 products which are approved for use in amenity situations
are:

Headway (with unique identifying number MAPP 14396) manufactured by
Syngenta UK Ltd, containing 62.5 g/l azoxystrobin and 104 g/l
propiconazole. Authorised for use on managed amenity turf and amenity
grassland. First authorised 13 February 2009 with a current expiry date
for use of 31 July 2019.
Heritage (M11383) - Syngenta Crop Protection UK Ltd, 500g/l azoxystrobin
used on managed amenity turf. First authorised 23 October 2002, this
product expired 31 August 2009.
Heritage (M13536) - Syngenta Crop Protection UK Ltd, 500g/l azoxystrobin
used on managed amenity turf and amenity grassland. First authorised 25
May 2007 with a current expiry date for use of 30 June 2024.
Heritage Maxx (M14787) Syngenta Crop Protection UK Limited, 95 g/l
azoxystrobin used on managed amenity turf and amenity grassland. First
authorised 22 December 2009 with a current expiry date for use of 30 June
2023.

In addition, the following products are also authorised based on the above
as follows:

PureProgress (M15471) - Pure Amenity Limited; this product is identical to
Headway M14396 and is authorised for use on managed amenity turf and
amenity grassland.

The following are also authorised for use on managed amenity turf and
amenity grassland being identical to Heritage M13536:

Kingdom Turf (M13833) - AgriGuard Ltd
Panama (M13950) - Pan Amenity Ltd
Phloem (M17754) - Capital CP Europe Ltd
PureAzoxy (M15136) - Pure Amenity Limited
Xylem (M17677) - EuroChem Solutions Limited
Clayton Putter (M15827) - Clayton Plant Protection (UK) Ltd
Euclid (M15926) - Indigrow Limited

The following products were previously authorised for use on amenity turf
but have since expired:

Harness (M16083)
Harness (M14803)

The diseases controlled by these products include Fusarium Patch disease
caused by Microdochium nivale, Take-All Patch disease caused by
Gaeumannomyces graminis, Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum graminicola
(moderate control), Brown patch caused by Rhizoctonia solani, Leaf
spot/Melting out caused by Drechslera poae and Rust diseases caused by
Puccinia spp (each product had label claims for control of some or all of
these).

Heritage M13536 and Heritage Maxx M14787 are most likely to have been used
by a local authority in managed amenity turf to control mushrooms
(appearing as “Fairy Rings”). We have no information as to whether the
products were used in the geographical locations or indeed we cannot even
comment on whether they were marketed. However the dates of authorisation
and expiry dates will indicate when they could have been used and indeed,
whether they could still be being used.

FLUTOLANIL

No products containing flutolanil have ever been authorised for amenity
use in the UK.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely
Ministerial Correspondence Unit
Defra

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Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

James Cameron

Helpline, Defra (MCU), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Thank you for your email. We have a target of replying to emails within 15
working days where a response is required, and 20 working days where a
case is handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If you need a reply before
then, please call the Defra Helpline on 03459 33 55 77, or visit
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati....
We often receive thousands of identical emails each month from organised
campaigns. Ministers and officials are made aware of these campaigns, but
unfortunately we cannot reply to each email when such large volumes are
received.
Best wishes,
Ministerial Contact Unit
 
 

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

This email and any attachments is intended for the named recipient only.
If you have received it in error you have no authority to use, disclose,
store or copy any of its contents and you should destroy it and inform the
sender.
Whilst this email and associated attachments will have been checked for
known viruses whilst within Defra systems we can accept no responsibility
once it has left our systems.
Communications on Defra's computer systems may be monitored and/or
recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other
lawful purposes.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...