environmental responsiblity
budlia63
Posts: 141
My neighbour has used creasote about 20 ft away from our pond full of frog spawn and nesting birds. It smells aweful and leaves a film on the pond. This product was banned in 2003 for gardeners and must be the worst product ever used in gardens. please can i ask that you think about our native wildlife, frogs, bees, birds badgers etc when treating wood? we don't fully know the extent that the careless use of poducts has had on our species but we do realise now that we have to save them from decline and extinction 
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Posts
Despicable!
I would think that anyone storing and using creosote 10 years after it was banned from sale knows exactly what they are doing and couldn't give a stuff. I also doubt very much if anyone reading your message on THIS board would need to be reminded.
I'm not so sure. Unless you read gardening mags regularly, or chat with up-to-date gardeners, it's not exactly widely publicised that certain prodcuts are no longer legal to use. I meet all sorts of gardeners who don't know stuff has been banned and that old products have to be disposed of properly and not just poured away or dumped in the bin.
Unless relationships with this neighbour are bad, or he/she is know to be an idiot, a quiet word might go a long way and failingthat, a word with the environment office at the local council.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
hi obelixx the neighbour is unapproachable and often rude so I can't have a quiet word. I did phone the council's environmental officer and she said they are powerless even with the product ban!! it would have to be a private procecution and i'd have to prove detriment/affects on my garden/plants/wildlife. I lose faith in the council more each day
x
It is no wonder bans have limited effect if there are no real sanctions. Having said that, we had new garage doors fitted five years ago and the workman creosoted them. We didn't know it had been banned and I don't think he did either.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/biocides/copr/creosote.htm
interesting read , the 2003 ban was for amateur products.
also
Creosote and the Biocidal Products DirectiveThe use of creosote as a wood preservative has been reviewed under the Biocidal Products Directive and the following inclusion decision has been taken . From 01 May 2013 wood preservatives containing creosote will need to be authorised for use in the EU. In the meantime national legislation will continue to apply, and creosote wood preservative products will continue to need approval under the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR) before they can be advertised, sold, supplied, stored or used in the UK.
Under COPR creosote containing products are approved for use in the UK by professionals as part of their work.
The reason for the creosote ban was for the small cancer risk.
There may be something in the regulations where he can be prosecuted but it may be hard to get anywhere with it.
Creosote is still available to professionals who can prove they are such, in the same way that many other pesticides and herbicides are available only to farmers / foresters etc.. My understanding about creosote is the main concern is that it is carcinogenic to humans, which is why it is not available to the public, who won't take the necessary precautions facemasks, gloves, care about disposal etc.. I think the main worry is about inhalation of fumes and contamination of waterways. Non-professionals were obliged to dispose of it from garden sheds etc. years ago.
Very frustrating that no one can take legal action against your neighbour. I would think that once it has dried it is much less harmful so would not worry about harm to birds directly or through eating worms etc.. I'd be quite worried if it has got into your pond. He must have been using a lot or spraying it with abandon for it to ve visible on the pond surface.