Government announces methaldehyde ban

THE Environment Secretary Michael Gove has announced on 19 December 2018, that a restriction will be placed on a popular pesticide, methaldehyde, which is used to control slugs on food crops and in gardens. The ban on the outdoor use of metaldehyde, is to be introduced across Great Britain from Spring 2020.

The media was told that the decision to prohibit its use, except in permanent greenhouses, follows advice from the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that metaldehyde poses an unacceptable risk to birds and mammals.

CLA Chief Land Use Adviser Susan Twining said:- "Slugs are a serious pest in the UK affecting establishment, yields and crop quality. Methaldehyde is a cost effective and reliable form of control helping to reduce costs and food waste. The farming industry has made many changes to usage practice in recent years to reduce the need for any slug control and if essential, to minimise the risks to wildlife. Integrated Pest Management is a principle for farmers and agronomists where pesticides are not used unless all other options have been explored and it is cost effective to do so. The ban means that there will be more emphasis on alternative methods and products. While the need to minimise risks to wildlife is essential, it may mean higher costs of production, and for some very sensitive crops such as oilseed rape, may result in changes in cropping patterns. The CLA will be working with farmers and Defra to minimise the impact of the ban on farm businesses."

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:- "I recognise that significant effort has been put into encouraging growers and gardeners to use this pesticide responsibly by the Metaldehyde Stewardship Group. However, the advice is clear that the risks to wildlife are simply too great; and we must all play our part in helping to protect the environment. I encourage companies and growers to look at the alternatives, such as ferric phosphate, which is authorised and does not carry similar risks. The outdoor use of metaldehyde will be phased out over 18 months, to give growers time to adjust to other methods of slug control. It will be legal to sell metaldehyde products for outdoor use for the next 6 months, with use of the products then allowed for a further 12 months. The new restrictions on metaldehyde will also reduce the possibility of the pesticide contaminating drinking water sources. Although this was not a factor in the advice from ECP and HSE, the restrictions will help water companies continue to meet our robust drinking water standards."

What do you, our readers think about this? Slugs can cause significant damage to plants and crops:- particularly potatoes, cereals and oil seed rape. However, as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have pointed out, there are other ways to mitigate their impact through soil preparation. For example, sowing the seed deeper into the soil may prevent the slugs from reaching them. There are also alternative pesticides containing ferric phosphate which provide effective control of slugs and snails without carrying the same risks to wildlife. Please email your thoughts and views to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com.

Green watchdog will support farmers to care for the environment, says CLA

A new green watchdog to hold the Government to account will help to prevent damage to the environment through Brexit and beyond by supporting farmers to care for the countryside, according to the CLA. Defra published draft clauses of the Environment Bill, on 19 December 2018, which set out how the Government will deliver its environmental ambitions by establishing the Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) as the new body to oversee governance. The CLA which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses welcomed the Bill and OEP saying it would help to strengthen existing green powers to enable the continued protection of the environment without added bureaucracy shifted on to those who care for it. CLA Director of Policy and Advice Christopher Price said:- "Farmers and land managers are up for the challenge of enhancing and protecting the environment. We want to deliver for the environment through supportive policy that provides a clear idea of achievable outcomes. In our consultation response we called for the proposed new body to ensure the Government is scrutinised and penalised sufficiently so that environmental targets are met but without adding extra cost and complexity. We are pleased the Government has listened to us and believe existing green powers will be strengthened so that the farmers and land managers who deliver this important environmental work are supported in their role."

Why is the ICO's website offline again?

SELDOM does a week go by without a major data breach being reported in recent years. This year alone, we can refer to the NHS issues, TalkTalk being hacked and even Facebook. Sadly, organisations of all sizes continue to struggle to secure their valuable data against an ever growing range of threats online and offline this year, including charities like the Make A Wish Foundation and The Bible Society. A glimmer of hope is that the new EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is said be improving data protection practices, but high profile breaches are still occurring.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) the authority which prosecutes data breaches. ICO is an executive non-departmental public body, which upholds information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals, in the UK. It is funded via the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, so you would think it was safe, but even the ICO has been hit with problems! Back in February 2018, a worldwide problem, affecting more than 4,000 websites, including the ICO's website hit the headlines. It was found that hacked script, located on the affected websites, including the ICO's, was being used to take control of visitors' computers to mine Cryptocurrency. In the UK, this same script was also located on sites like the Scottish NHS Helpline, Student Loans Company, and Barnsley Hospital. That sadly was not an isolated case, as hackers have been repeatedly breaking into popular websites, in order to piggyback off the computers of people visiting the sites.

But now, since the 18 December the website has been showing a 502 error. The ICO's verified Twitter.

Account @ICOnews on 18 December read:- "We are experiencing some technical problems with the ICO website and we are working to fix the issues as soon as possible. If you are experiencing problems you could try refreshing the page. We apologise for the inconvenience."

Many in the computer industry are asking the question :- "Have the Information Commissioner's Office's website and systems been hacked again, or is this just an error?"

The ICO's website previously experienced sustained outages on 25 May 2018, the day the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, due to the number of SMB's asking for guidance and advice on the new regulations. Then, in August 2018, the ICO's website was down yet again, after an:- "unprecedented electrical surge" that damaged its host's circuits... So it is not always hackers at fault...

The error shown is a "502" error, known as a "bad gateway error" and this means the site has a server communication issue. At its most basic level, it relates to the communication between a gateway or proxy server that has accepted an invalid response from an upstream. Upstream refers to the direction in which data can be transferred from the client to the server and back again. The error in this case relates to the communication between a gateway or proxy server, that has accepted an invalid response from an upstream (or origin) server. This is often down to a website being misconfigured, but it can also be down to server overload. Server overload can happen when the multitude of visitors climb so high, it exhausts the servers network resources, ie. communication channels. Malicious users can use this process to take down websites in DDOS attacks (Distributed Denial of Service Attacks.) This attack means a computer system doesn't require hacking, to be blocked and used as a form of frustration to website owners and user alike. Other issues that can affect it include a large number of other Network errors or even faulty programming. That's not forgetting errors with firewalls leading to the blocking of requests to access the website server and as a result the website itself. Sadly, the message to us isn't particularly descriptive, but is a way to alert a web server administrator that something is wrong with the website.

If the Information Commissioner's Office website has been physically hacked, who will fine the ICO if any personal data has been compromised or has resulted in damage to other peoples systems, as in February 2018? 2019 will be a very interesting year for IT, so watch this space...

CLA reaction to the Immigration White Paper

ON 19 December 2018 the UK Government published plans to control immigration post Brexit by introducing a minimum salary threshold and skills based points system for access to UK jobs. The CLA which represents 30,000 landowners, farmers and rural businesses has reacted to the plans calling for urgent provision of workers across the rural economy.

In reaction to the plans, the CLA President Tim Breitmeyer said:- "A secure and sufficient supply of migrant labour is vital to rural businesses once the UK leaves the EU to boost growth and productivity. Highly skilled workers from the EU are major contributors to the rural economy and it is right they should continue to have access to the UK market. However, imposing an arbitrary minimum salary threshold puts at risk a variety of jobs across the agri food sector, including some which require specialist skills. These are vital roles which are critical to the success of the rural economy but have traditionally not attracted interest from UK nationals seeking work. Restricting this critical supply of labour will jeopardise the future viability of many rural businesses. What is needed post Brexit is a flexible immigration policy that ensures the rural economy continues to have access to the skills and labour force it needs."