Britain's 'Erin Brockovich' wins landmark battle against pesticides being spread on fields near homes

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By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:51 AM on 15th November 2008

A judge has backed a campaigner's claim that the Government had failed to

protect the public from exposure to toxic cropspraying chemicals.

 

Georgina Downs won a stunning High Court victory yesterday against the current

pesticide safety regulations.

 

The ruling could force ministers to change the rules to bring them in line with

EU guidelines, following evidence that thousands of people living near sprayed

fields have suffered burns, cancers and neurological disorders.

 

Miss Downs has campaigned for seven years to expose the flaws in the

Government's assessment of the chemicals.

 

She claimed victory yesterday despite being faced with a raft of lawyers and

scientists hired by Whitehall to defend its rules.

 

Miss Downs called for the resignation from the Government of former food and

farming minister David Miliband - now Foreign Secretary - for turning his back

on the victims of the scandal.

 

She also called for the heads of senior Government advisers who drew up the

flawed safety regime that has now been ruled illegal by the High Court.

 

The case centred on a complaint that the safety regime for chemical sprays fell

short of safeguards required by EU directives.

 

The Government had concluded pesticides were safe on the basis that there was no

harm caused to residents who only come into contact with chemical sprays rarely

and for a short period.

 

But Miss Downs argued this system - known as the bystander model - did not take

into account the long-term effects of repeated exposure to chemicals.

 

She has campaigned for an immediate ban on crop-spraying near homes, schools,

playgrounds, workplaces and other public areas.

 

The campaigner, from Sussex, took action after she and her family fell ill. She

produced two DVDs carrying testimony from other victims whose health had been

blighted by living close to fields treated with pesticides.

 

Symptoms included rashes, itching, sore throats, burning eyes, blistering,

headaches, nausea, stomach pains and burnt vocal chords. Many had developed

cancer, asthma and ME.

 

Earlier this year, Miss Downs became the first recipient of the Daily Mail's

Inspirational Eco Woman of the Year Award in recognition of her campaigning.

 

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Collins, said she had successfully produced

'solid evidence that residents have suffered harm to their health'.

 

He urged the Government to change the rules so that farmers are required to give

residents 48 hours' notice of spraying, adding that there was a strong case for

buffer zones around homes.

 

Outside the court, Miss Downs said: 'The fact that there has never been any

assessment of the risks to health for the long-term exposure for those who live,

work or go to school near pesticide-sprayed fields is an absolute scandal

considering that crop-spraying has been a predominant feature of agriculture for

over 50 years.

 

'This is obviously a very significant and landmark ruling for the potentially

millions of residents throughout the country who, like myself, live in the

locality to pesticide-sprayed fields.'

 

The food and farming department, DEFRA, defended its record. A spokesman said:

'The protection of human health is paramount.

 

'Pesticides used in this country are rigorously assessed to the same standards

as the rest of the EU and use is only ever authorised after internationally

approved tests.'

 

The campaign by Miss Downs bears a striking resemblance to the one fought by

Erin Brockovich in the United States.

 

 

She was an unemployed single mother who became a legal assistant and almost

single-handedly brought down a power company accused of polluting a city's water

supply.

 

 

Her story was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Julia Roberts.

 

The woman on a mission

Doctors were baffled when Georgina Downs was struck down with a mysterious

illness at the age of 13.

 

The talented singer and actress, tipped for stardom in the West End after

performances at the National Theatre in her early teens, was plagued by

tinnitus, severe headaches, muscle wastage, giddiness and lapses of memory,

making it impossible for her to accept theatrical roles.

 

By 19 her weight had plunged to six stone, and her throat was often so swollen

with black blisters that she was unable to sing.

 

But it wasn't until 1992 that she first realised crop spraying on farmland

behind her family home in Chichester, West Sussex, could be to blame. It was to

mark the start of a long, personal crusade which has led to her being dubbed the

'pesticide nun'.

 

 

The 35-year-old has no time for a job, a steady romance or a social life, and

often works from 9am to 3am.

 

Her investigations have uncovered clusters of unexplained illnesses in

communities surrounded by crop-sprayed fields.

 

She said: 'For this campaign I put everything on hold. I just decided to try to

do everything I could to change the Government's policy on pesticides.'

 

 

 

 

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