Mark Purdey dies - campaigns against pesticides and chemicals will continue

It was with sadness I read a couple of weeks ago about the death of Mark Purdey - the campaigning farmer who was deeply convinced that pesticides harm cattle.

Photo left: Godsells dairy cows

Mark was an extraodinary man who stood on at least one occasion for the Green Party. He was a dairy farmer in Elworthy, Somerset and long challenged the orthodox line about the origins of the BSE outbreak in cattle first recognised in 1986.

The Guardian writes last week:

His life changed one day in 1984 when a Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF, as it then was) official told him he had to comply with a warble fly eradication order and treat his herd of Jersey cows with an organophosphate (OP) pesticide. "When she arrived, it was as if my whole life became focused," he explained. "Prior to that, I knew what was happening in farming, and I was concerned, but I hadn't been actively campaigning."

Purdey refused, arguing that the suggested dose was far too high and in any case his natural treatment for warble fly was perfectly effective. The battle lines with the agricultural bureaucracy were drawn; before they had a chance to prosecute him, Purdey took MAFF to court and shook administrative complacency by winning his case.

In the following years, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) became widespread in British cattle. Mark began ordering scientific papers from the British Library and elsewhere. He turned his fierce intellectual curiosity to the study of pesticides, neuro-degenerative diseases in humans and animals, and multinational chemical companies: was there, he wondered, any link between them all?

MAFF attributed BSE to contaminated meat and bonemeal (MBM) products fed to cattle, and banned the feed in July 1988. As the 1990s unfolded, however, thousands of cattle that had not been alive when the feed was used went down with the illness. Purdey also noted that no home-reared cattle on fully converted organic farms had contracted BSE. He believed that the onset of the disease was associated with the over-use of chemicals on the cattle.

Mark has lectured across the country and continued his research funded by donations - often by many ordinary people incensed by what they saw as the official line that ignores the possibility that many of these toxic chemicals are dangerous - at the time I first heard of Mark I was very seriously ill myself and sent a very small donation to his fund. Indeed as The Guardian writes:

What we do know about the BSE outbreak, among other things, are the following: that the animal feed which was so devastating in this country mysteriously had no ill-effects on cattle when it was exported; that the government has failed to prove its theory by replicating it experimentally; that no feed manufacturers or anyone else were ever prosecuted for having caused the outbreak (as defence lawyers would soon have picked holes in the official theory); and that, as those who got through all 16 volumes of the inquiry report found out, Lord Phillips, too, disputed the official theory as to the exact origin and timescale of the illness.

In any event, it is already perfectly clear that, in trying to awaken public concern about the adverse health effects of environmental chemicals, Purdey has been proved right.

But we still have a battle - as Georgina Downs, pesticide campaigner has shown there is still much we need to do. Our politicians are behaving in deeply irresponsible ways. Another example is last weeks vote in the EU - rules which could have banned the use of the most toxic synthetic chemicals look set to be dramatically weakened – putting public health at continued risk. The UK and German governments are bowing to pressure from the powerful EU chemicals industry, which wants to continue producing thousands of deadly chemicals for use in everyday items such as cleaning products, carpets, computers – and even children’s toys.

Euro-MP Caroline Lucas, the Green/EFA group’s ‘shadow rapporteur’ on the so-called ‘REACH’ regulations (standing for Registration, Authorisation and Evaluation of Chemicals), said they were putting these interests above those of public health and environmental protection with serious consequences for the negotiations and probable outcome. Dr Lucas said:

“We Greens had pushed for robust set of rules that would have forced the producers of toxic synthetic chemicals to tell consumers what their likely effects would be – and that would have banned the use of the most dangerous substances wherever safer alternatives exist, as well as replacing the millions of additional animal tests the new rules would have required. Although we didn’t win the argument on all of these points during European Parliamentary debate, we entered into ‘fast-track’ negotiations with the Commission and EU environment ministers to try and get something on the statute books as soon as possible – every day the new rules are delayed means more cases of terminal cancers and other deadly chemical-related diseases and more pollution. “But last night, in the face of sustained pressure from the UK and German representatives, these ‘trialogue’ talks were suspended – throwing the whole process into chaos. We Greens now believe the best chance of adopting a directive that sufficiently protects consumers and the environment lies in bringing the whole package back to the full European Parliament for a second reading – and we are pushing for exactly this.”

The UK’s permanent representative to the EU said the compromise being discussed last night went “too far for the UK” and recommended weakening the rules on substituting dangerous chemical for safer alternatives – contrary to the clearly stated wishes of MEPs.

It seems clear to anyone observing that the whole process has effectively been hijacked by the powerful chemicals industry – with the support of the UK Government – and it is consumers who will pay the ultimate price. Mark Purdey and his tireless campaign will be sorely missed by those of us who are trying to end dangerous chemicals in our environment.

You can read Tributes to Mark at his website.