In the same way that Britain’s more Eurosceptic newspapers will take even harmful policies and suggest they illustrate the successes of Brexit, those that campaigned for ‘Remain’ rarely miss an opportunity to remind their readers that the 2016 vote was a mistake.
Having untied itself from Brussels regulations, Britain is now becoming the “toxic poster child of Europe.” That is according to a campaigner quoted in The Guardian on Wednesday in an article criticising the government for failing to ban 36 pesticides that are not allowed in the EU. Of these, the paper noted that 13 are considered “highly hazardous,” while four are “highly toxic to bees,” one “contaminates water,” and one is “highly toxic to aquatic organisms.”
There is obviously a story in this, especially given the Tory promise that environmental regulations post-Brexit would not “slip lower” than those set in Brussels. And it seems right that campaigners should urge the government to bring tougher rules into play. But to say, as The Guardian does in its first paragraph (albeit in quotation marks), that Britain is becoming the “toxic poster child of Europe” is quite a stretch.
All but six of the pesticides were allowed in the EU when Britain formally left, just three years ago. The paper saves this rather significant piece of information for its fifth paragraph. Businessman and former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib described this presentation as “putting Europhilic dogma ahead of reality.” He told The European Conservative:
If these pesticides are so awful, all of Europe was, until recently, toxic! This is yet another Remainer/Rejoiner scare story.
To classify 12 of them as carcinogens, nine as endocrine disruptors, and eight as reproductive toxins is more Guardian-esque hyperbole. Many chemicals, if absorbed excessively, have potentially adverse health outcomes. It is all about the dosage. I repeat: these pesticides were until recently widely used across Europe.
The Guardian needs to maintain some form of rationality in its apparent unfettered desire to promote the EU and do down the United Kingdom.
After all, it is not as if there aren’t plenty of other sticks with which to beat the current Tory government.
