To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action his Department is taking to assess the dangers posed by chlorpyrifos to the UK's water courses; and if he will make a statement.

All pesticides are subject to regular review to make sure that they meet current safety standards. This is a two-stage process, with a review of the active substance approval by the EU being followed by national reviews of the related products.

Chlorpyrifos is at the second stage of that process; the EU has confirmed approval of the active substance and the chemicals regulation directorate is reviewing existing product authorisations. The likelihood of chlorpyrifos getting into water and the risk that this would pose to people and to the environment will form part of this assessment.