Slug pellets can no longer be sold or used in the UK, as of Friday 1st April, as they pose an "unacceptable risk" to birds, dogs and mammals, it has been announced.
Metaldehyde pellets have long been used as bait to control slugs, snails and other garden pests, but the government was advised by the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides and the Health and Safety Executive that pellets can severely poison other animals.
we should be dealing with slugs organically. "If we didn't have slugs and snails we would all be knee-deep in debris and rubbish because that is what they do: they chomp through it
I know sometimes they chomp through your favourite lettuce as well but they are part of the ecosystem and they do a really important job. People ought to try and leave them. I am a true believer that if you establish the balance in your garden it really is self-sustaining and you absolutely don't need chemicals," Carol continued.
In March, the RHS announced they would no longer be classing slugs and snails as pests, saying they play an important role in planet-friendly gardening and maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
"The RHS is all too aware of the role that gardens have in supporting biodiversity and as such will no longer label any garden wildlife as pests," Andrew Salisbury, principal entomologist at the RHS, told The Guardian. "Instead, there will be greater consideration of and focus on the role that slugs, aphids and caterpillars play in a balanced garden ecosystem along with more popular wildlife (or animals) such as birds, hedgehogs and frogs."
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