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Confused? Ok, so we've got an organophospate pesticide, Dichlofenthion, that is not licensed in the UK and not on the UK approved list, but is an active ingredient in a chemical called Aaitfon which is. According to the pesticide-sales-funded Pesticide Safety Directorate Aaitfon can be imported so long as "Maximum Residue Levels" of Dichlofenthion aren't exceeded. We felt we needed to know more about this lucky chemical so we got a Parliamentary Question asked about Aatifon, answered by Lord Larry Whitty, the Minister for Food and Farming. It said:  Just to double check, because we're stupid, we emailed the French. To our shock and amazement, they said:  The doorsteps of all doorsteps... Even more confused, we thought we ought to speak to Lord Whitty. Imagine our surprise when we bumped into him in the first class carriage of a London-Leeds train. Even more coincidentally, we had a cameraman with us. Mark asked Lord Whitty to look into the matter. After a leisurely breakfast, we went back and asked him again…and again, for luck. He agreed to an interview.  But he didn't seem to be on great form when we saw him - he didn't know the difference between a Maximum and a Minimum Residue Level, he didn't know how many unlicensed pesticides might be coming into the country on seeds and he didn't know that the French seemed to be disagreeing with him about Aatifon. Barbequed!! During a taped conference call between some specialist journalists and the senior press team at DEFRA Martyn Smith, Head of News, was asked what the department were doing to commemorate the anniversary of Foot and Mouth disease. Martyn Smith replies "I was proposing to go out for a drink with the management with as many as I can retrieve, or a barbecue". Mark asked Lord Whitty why DEFRA appeared to have its own Jo Moore in the department. A less than impressed Lord Whitty immediately declared the interview over. The Tumbleweed moment A few days later Mark discovered that the Pesticide Safety Directorate, Health & Safety Executive and Syngenta were all going to be at a pesticides conference in Norwich. We went along, with Andy, to see if any representatives from these organisations could help. But as soon as we announced ourselves...  ...everyone left.
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