Vol. 537 No. 1
90 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if there are any countries from which feed or food products are imported which still permit the spraying of crops against bacterial diseases. [15452/01]
Whereas in Ireland there is no authorisation for crop spraying with antibiotics, the use of antibiotics to control bacterial diseases is permitted in Greece, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, United Kingdom and in Sweden. There is no information available regarding non-EU countries.
Bacterial diseases are often as a result of secondary infection and control is achieved by taking preventative action to control the primary infection, for example, Canker in apple trees. There are a wide number of fungicides and other pesticides used to treat such primary infections. Ireland imports food and feed from the countries I just listed and others where both primary and secondary control of primary and secondary bacterial diseases occur.
