The manufacturers of Asulox (active ingredient Asulam), UPL ltd, have announced they will withdraw from carrying out further work on a permanent solution that would support the use of Asulam in the future.
The Bracken Control Group have said that without the support and evidence that UPL would have provided, the application for an emergency authorisation to allow the use of asulam in 2024 cannot succeed; therefore, an application will not be submitted. This will mean that there will be no asulam (Asulox) available for bracken control in 2024 and beyond.
For 2023 the Health and Safety Executive’s recommendation for all four nations was to deny approval for asulam use, due to the herbicide not meeting ‘legislative requirements for emergency authorisation’. Following this, in June this year the Welsh government chose to follow HSE advice and continue with the existing ban for 2023.