A RUSHED trade deal with India could cause a spike of toxic pesticides in UK food, campaigners have warned.

The Westminster Government has pledged to negotiate a new Free Trade Agreement with India in record time in order to double trade with the subcontinent by 2030.

But the Pesticides Action Network is concerned that UK negotiators will face considerable pressure to water down pesticide standards from the Indian government, which is infamous for lobbying aggressively against such protections.

PAN UK head of policy, Josie Cohen, said: “Pesticide regulations aren’t bargaining chips, they are there to protect people’s health. Watering them down to secure a new trade deal would create serious public health risks at home whilst also making our farmers less competitive abroad. Deals of this size typically take years to complete – rushing through negotiations without fully thinking through the consequences is a recipe for disaster.”

India currently allows the use of 62% more ‘Highly Hazardous Pesticides’ (HHPs) on its crops than the UK, and tends to allow larger amounts of chemicals to appear in its food than the UK. As an example, PAN UK pointed out that common foods such as apples and grapes can permissibly contain 200 times the levels of the insecticide Malathion.

A new trade deal with India could also mean an increase in Indian wheat exports to the UK – and India allows wheat to contain 50 times the amount of chlorpyrifos than its UK equivalent.

Dr Emily Lydgate, Reader in Environmental Law at the University of Sussex, said: “The Indian government has a long record of lobbying to relax levels of permitted pesticide residues, and UK negotiators will inevitably face pressure to weaken domestic regulation. Indian produce regularly contains illegally high levels of pesticides, and with an already under-resourced UK border force following Britain’s exit from the EU, an FTA that weakens the rules could weaken pose a risk to public health.”

Vicki Hird, Head of Sustainable Farming at Sustain said: “This deal could turn significant health risks to the UK public into a competitive advantage for Indian agribusiness over our own farmers. A deal with one of the world’s largest agri-producers risks undermining the considerable efforts being made to ensure UK farming is more sustainable. We must get the details right.”