Over many years Asulox® has established itself as the UK’s market leading product for bracken control. The active ingredient, asulam, targets bracken infestations and is translocated throughout the plant to provide effective control. Herbicidal symptoms following application of Asulox® do not show in the year of spraying but in the following season there is little or no bracken re-growth. Completing a programme of follow up sprays with Asulox can greatly extend the bracken free period for land that has been treated.
Asulox®, along with all pesticides within Europe, has been subject to the EU Plant Protection Products Directive 91 / 414 which meant that all pesticide products in Europe had to undergo a rigorous re-examination of all the supporting data. Asulox® failed to gain approval (after appeal) by 20th September 2011. Because of industry wide support for the product, including organisations such as Butterfly Conservation and Environment Agencies there is an aim to obtain re-registration of the product. However in the intervening time it is hoped that it will be approved for Emergency Authorisation whereby it can be used annually for 120 days.
Asulox has only been available under the terms of annual Emergency Authorisations, which have been granted for the whole of the UK by the Chemicals Regulation Division of the Health & Safety Executive (CRD) in response to an application submitted by the BCG (Bracken Control Group).
An approval for restricted use of Asulox has been granted for the 2023 control season in England only. This allows application from 1st July until 11th September, and to allow time for the disposal of stocks, the approval to store and transfer the product does not expire until 27th October 2023.
For ground-based application, use of ‘Asulox’ is restricted to conservation areas only. The use in conservation areas must be under the direction of the relevant conservation body.
The revised restrictions on the use of Asulam for bracken control during the 2023 season are:
- In England only, application of asulam is authorised from 1st July 2023.
- To minimise interaction with breeding birds, where feasible, application should take place after 1st August, or as late in July as possible.
- To protect mammals, application is not allowed where the hazel dormouse is known to breed. It remains in force for the 2023 season from the previous year, see below.
- Aerial application using low drift nozzles has been authorised subject to an aerial spraying permit being obtained: HSE will provide template application forms on their website. A separate Aerial Spray Permit must be granted by HSE for each job before work can take place.
- Ground-based application has been authorised for conservation areas. Further details are in the approval document.
- There is no change to the no-spray buffer zones included in previous authorisations. Further drift trails will take place in 2023.
- Livestock must be removed from areas to be treated and must not be allowed to return until at least 1 month after treatment.
- The EA period will end on 11th September for placing Asulox on the market and for use - no spraying is to take place after this date.
- Returns of unopened containers will be accepted by distributors; it will be illegal to hold stocks of Asulox after 27th October, where the EA period will end for storage and disposal of stocks.
To meet the requirements of Appendix 3 (Stewardship) of the EA approval, distributors, contractors and users of Asulox must ensure that details of how, where and why the product is applied are provided to the Bracken Control Group.
- Detailed requirements and a form will be available on brackencontrol.co.uk.
- This information is required to allow data to be provided in support of further applications for the use of Asulox. All details will be aggregated before submission so that individual information is not made public.
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