Gardeners are inadvertently killing scores of earthworms with soil conditioners marketed as โorganicโ, experts fear, as they call for tighter regulation on products that poison the invertebrates.
Campaigners are calling for the government to investigate these products, suspending their use until their effect on earthworms and other wildlife is fully understood.
Nick Mole, a policy officer at Pesticide Action UK, said: โFertilisers and soil conditioners arenโt subject to anywhere near the same level of scrutiny as pesticides. They donโt appear to go through a risk assessment process to ascertain if they are harmful to non-target species such as earthworms, which is highly concerning given how widely they are used.
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โAny substance that is intentionally released into the natural environment has the potential to cause harm, even those labelled as organic. Now that the alarm bells have been sounded the UK government must act quickly to suspend use of these products while they investigate further, including conducting thorough risk assessments looking at the impact of these products on earthworms and other wildlife, including aquatic species. Or will the government sit on its hands for another 10 years, as it did with neonicotinoids and bees?โ
