Despite the prevalence of pesticide cocktails, and the evidence that they can be more harmful than individual pesticides, the UK continues to assess the safety of one chemical at a time. Safety assessments of pesticide residues in our food continue to be based on analysis of individual chemicals, ignoring the potential risks to human health associated with pesticide mixtures.
While the government conducts extremely limited testing for pesticide cocktails in food, it fails to assess or limit the sum total of pesticides to which the environment and wildlife are exposed. There is no monitoring for pesticide cocktails in soil or the extent to which pollinators or other wildlife are being exposed.
Despite being acknowledged as a significant problem almost two decades ago, the UK regulatory system largely fails to even monitor, let alone protect us, from the cocktail effect.