In 2000, UK householders spent £35 million to dowse their homes and gardens with pesticides, 39% up on 1999. 90,000 hectares of garden plus parks and playing fields are treated every year, posing a particular health threat to the most vulnerable: the young, the old, the sick, pregnant women and their unborn babies. Of the 175 products for controlling lawn and grass pests, 64 contain the herbicide 2,4-D, which irritates the eyes and can cause cancer.

• Around 20% of old domestic pesticides is disposed of down drains, risking contamination of rivers leading to the poisoining, even deaths, of human and other animals from contaminated drinking water
• Pesticide contamination of drinking water regularly exceeds legal safety limits in the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands
• Just 100 grams of some pesticides can contaminate a billion litres of water
• During the last decade the UK water industry has spent a billion pounds on cleaning equipment and a million pounds a year on specific cleaning projects

For more information see website: www.water.org.uk

See also Children more at risk than adults and Cancer on the Lawn