How much of the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid (BMK08/Ectosan) has been used in Scottish salmon farming - either legally or illegally - since Norwegian-owned Benchmark via the Inverness-based Fish Vet Group registered a patent back in 2011? That's the killer question Scottish Salmon Watch is trying to track down via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests including an ongoing review with the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Imidacloprid was banned for use in terrestrial agriculture in April 2018 although there is still “wide-scale abuse” of the emergency authorisations. Scottish Salmon Watch reported in May 2020 that Norwegian-owned Mowi lobbied the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in March 2020 to support a field trial of Imidacloprid (Ectosan) in Loch Ailort prompting 'deep concern' from the Scottish Greens. A FOI disclosure to Scottish Salmon Watch by the Scottish Government in July 2019 suggested that a field trial may have taken place in Scotland in the Spring of 2019.
In January 2020, Benchmark's Communications Manager referred to "further trials" (therefore suggesting that trials had already taken place):
Fish Farming Expert reported in October 2018 that "the system is working well in field trials" and referred to Ardtoe Marine Laboratory in Scotland as the place where Clean Treat was "developed".
Fish Farmer magazine reported in February 2020 (when Benchmark was still hiding the fact that BMK08/Ectosan was the neonicotinoid Imidacloprid - Benchmark only publicly admitted this toxic truth on 20 March 2020 after Scottish Salmon Watch and The Ferret blew the whistle on 17 March 2020) that "over the past 24 months, more than 35,000 tonnes in five Norwegian farms have been treated with BMK08" and that Clean Treat was "developed over a 10-year period at Ardtoe in Scotland":
The Fish Site reported in February 2020:
Earlier this month (19 October 2020), the Scottish Government replied to a FOI request on the use of Imidacloprid at Benchmark's Ardtoe Marine Laboratory since 2013 (the letter is slightly corrupted due to IT errors at the Scottish Government).
In September 2020, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) denied it had any information on the use of Imidacloprid at Benchmark's Ardtoe Marine Laboratory since 2013:
From: Andrew Saunders <a.saunders@vmd.gov.uk>
Date: Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 12:11 PM
Subject: Official Sensitive: Response to Freedom of Information Request ATI0676
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Dear Don
Thank you for your email dated 03th September 2020.
Your Request
You asked for:
- Please provide information on the use of Imidacloprid (publicly known as Ectosan from December 2017 to November 2019 and then marketed by Benchmark as BMK08) at the FAI Aquaculture marine laboratory in Ardtoe since October 2013. The FOI request with contextual information is attached here as a PDF and available online here.
Please therefore provide information including any licences, discharge consents, approvals, trials and any other documents relating to the use of Imidacloprid (Ectosan/BMK08) at Ardtoe since October 2013.
- Scottish Salmon Watch would like to ascertain if any use of Imidacloprid (Ectosan/BMK08) by Benchmark - via their "10-year" development of CleanTreat at Ardtoe - has been officially approved by the Scottish Government, SEPA, the VMD or another authority.
Our Reply
As a general point, you should note that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives you an entitlement to information rather than documents and it is in this context that we have answered your request.
- Please provide information on the use of Imidacloprid (publicly known as Ectosan from December 2017 to November 2019 and then marketed by Benchmark as BMK08) at the FAI Aquaculture marine laboratory in Ardtoe since October 2013. The FOI request with contextual information is attached here as a PDF and available online here.
Please therefore provide information including any licences, discharge consents, approvals, trials and any other documents relating to the use of Imidacloprid (Ectosan/BMK08) at Ardtoe since October 2013.
The VMD does not hold any recorded information in this area.
- Scottish Salmon Watch would like to ascertain if any use of Imidacloprid (Ectosan/BMK08) by Benchmark - via their "10-year" development of CleanTreat at Ardtoe - has been officially approved by the Scottish Government, SEPA, the VMD or another authority.
To date, the use of imidacloprid (Ectosan/BMK08) by Benchmark - via their "10-year" development of CleanTreat at Ardtoe - has not been officially approved by the VMD. The VMD does not hold any recorded information in this area.
Earlier this month, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency also denied any knowledge or information on the use of Imidacloprid at Benchmark's Ardtoe Marine Laboratory since 2013 (prompting a FOI review by Scottish Salmon Watch).
From: FOI Helpdesk <FOI.Mail@sepa.org.uk>
Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2020 at 2:17 PM
Subject: SEPA Response - [F:0192362]
To: <Salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Cc: <foi@sepa.org.uk>
Dear Mr Don Staniford
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - RESPONSE
Thank you for your request, received by SEPA on 03/09/2020. Please see the enclosed response. Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing this response.
If you are not satisfied with our response below, you have 40 working days from the date of this letter to request a formal review from SEPA at:
Access to Information
SEPA
Strathallan House
Castle Business Park
Stirling
FK9 4TZ
Email: foi@sepa.org.uk
If you are still not satisfied, you can appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Regards
Cara Everitt
SEPA Access to Information team
Tel: 01786 457700
From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 6, 2020 at 9:49 AM
Subject: Review re. F:0192362
To: AccesstoInformation <foi@sepa.org.uk>
Could you please double check your records?
Your reply (5 October 2020) included:
Scottish Salmon Watch finds it difficult to understand how Benchmark can have conducted a decade of scientific research on CleanTreat - including the use of toxic chemicals such as Imidacloprid - at Ardtoe without having any authorisation or discussions with SEPA.
In the absence of any SEPA discharge consent to use Imidacloprid, can it be concluded that any use of Imidacloprid by Benchmark at Ardtoe was illegal?
Please consider this a formal request for a review of F:0192362.
Thanks,
Don
In September 2020, the Scottish Government published a FOI reply which denied any knowledge of any trials of Imidacloprid since 2017.
Read more background via Scottish Salmon Watch's FOI request dated 20 May 2020:
Including:
Read more via FOI Letter to Scottish Ministers SEPA & VMD re Imidacloprid Field Trials 20 May 2020
More background on FOI requests involving CleanTreat and Ectosan/BMK08/Imidacloprid - including an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner - are available via:
Please Come Clean on BMK08!
SEPA review of Imidacloprid refusal F0191802 18 May 2020
SEPA review of Imidacloprid refusal F0191802 findings in full 18 May 2020
SEPA review of Imidacloprid refusal F0191802 Mowi email to SEPA 10 March 2020 re Loch Ailort
SEPA review of Imidacloprid refusal F0191802 Mowi letter to SEPA 10 March 2020 re Loch Ailort
Scottish Government Imidacloprid FOI reply dated 11 May 2020
CleanTreat: FOI Disclosures by the Scottish Government to Scottish Salmon Watch
In August 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch supplied further information as part of an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner which was filed in February 2020:
From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 3:07 PM
Subject: Additional Information re. SEPA 202000275
To: Karin Killington <kkillington@itspublicknowledge.info>, <wsneddon@itspublicknowledge.info>
Scottish Salmon Watch strongly believes that there is a public interest in the disclosure of information on 'CleanTreat' including BMK08 (Ectosan).
In fact, it was only in March 2020 that Scottish Salmon Watch discovered that BMK08/Ectosan was the toxic neonicotinoid insecticide Imidacloprid (banned by the EU in 2018 for use in terrestrial agriculture).
This was reported via The Ferret, ENDS and other publications in March 2020:
And it forced out a public statement by Benchmark (architects of the CleanTreat system which uses Imidacloprid/BMK08/Ectosan):
Suffice to say that this controversial disclosure adds considerable weight to Scottish Salmon Watch's appeal.
Moreover, Scottish Salmon Watch further revealed in May 2020 (via a FOI disclosure by SEPA) that salmon farming giant Mowi in March 2020 had asked SEPA to support a field trial of Ectosan (re-named BMK08 in November 2019) in Loch Ailort:
The use of Imidacloprid warranted a letter to the Cabinet Secretary for the Environment from the Scottish Greens in May 2020:
In June 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch published scientific opposition to the use of Imidacloprid (which Benchmark proposes to use via the CleanTreat system):
Scottish Salmon Watch also published further details on the patents secured by Benchmark (information which we are not even sure that SEPA was in possession of):
The Sunday Times and BBC Radio featured the controversial issue in June 2020 and British Wildlife viewed the issue as such a public concern that they featured it in their Editorial in August 2020:
SEPA's refusal to disclose information on CleanTreat, BMK08, Ectosan and Imidacloprid is an affront to transparency and runs counter to their role as a publicly-funded watchdog for the environment. Scottish Salmon Watch believes that protecting the commercial interests of a Norwegian-funded industry at the expense of the Scottish environment is unacceptable and unreasonable.
It beggars belief that SEPA are placing the profits of Norway's 5th richest man (Johan Andresen - owner of Ferd Capital which controls Benchmark) before the Scottish environment and public accountability.
Scottish Salmon Watch asks the Scottish Information Commissioner to force the disclosure of information in the public interest. The considerable media coverage of the issue since March 2020 when it was publicly revealed that CleanTreat was a Trojan Horse designed to use a banned neonicotinoid insecticide is evidence enough.
Please force SEPA to protect the Scottish environment rather than protect the commercial interests of a Norwegian company wanting to keep secret documents detailing the use of a toxic neonicotinoid insecticide.
If you require further information please do not hesitate to contact me on 07771 541826.
Please provide a receipt for this email.
Thanks,
Don Staniford
Director, Scottish Salmon Watch
In August 2020, an Editorial in British Wildlife by Professor Dave Goulson of the University of Sussex questioned the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming.
The alarm bells are ringing ever louder. Last month, Fish Farming Expert reported (10 September 2020):
Here's the EMEA statement (11 September 2020):
Intrafish reported (10 September 2020):
In February 2020, Benchmark may have applied to SEPA for the use of Imidacloprid in Scottish salmon farming. Fish Farming Expert reported (28 February 2020):
Since Scottish Salmon Watch broke the shocking news in March 2020 that Benchmark's secret BMK08 lice treatment is actually the toxic neonicotinoid insecticide Imidacloprid, scientific opposition has been building.
The Sunday Times reported in June 2020:
In June 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch published a dossier on the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming:
The dossier includes:
Today (26 October 2020), Scottish Salmon Watch filed further FOI requests with SEPA, the Scottish Government and the VMD in relation to the use of Imidacloprid in Scottish salmon farming.
Download FOI letter online here
Read more via:
Addendum:
