Pan Britannica Industries Ltd (PBI) was a household and agrochemical formulation company based at Britannica House, Stewardstone Road,

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and ...

and with a distribution presence in

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

. PBI was, in common with many other UK household names, both a manufacturer and marketing organisation for both agricultural and horticultural products. PBI produced many agro-chemical formulations that were popular with farmers in many parts of the globe. However it was best known for its product Baby Bio, a liquid plant food that came in a notable small perfume-shaped bottle. Other major products by PBI are the Expert range of books, such as the ''Garden Expert'', ''House Plant Expert'', ''Greenhouse Expert'' etc. written by, Dr D.G. Hessayon, who later became chairman of PBI. The company was sold to the Sumitomo corporation in the late eighties, and rebranded as pbi Home & Garden in 1998.

Cancer allegations

The company's formulation plant in Waltham Abbey was alleged to be at the centre and therefore the cause of a cancer hotspot. This was highlighted by Storyline, an investigative television programme by Carlton Television, in early 1993. Reports of an unusual occurrence of cancer around the plant and subsequent legal action taken by the residents were the basis for this programme.{{Cite web, url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/inquiry-is-sought-over-pesticide-cancer-fears-1470365.html , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/inquiry-is-sought-over-pesticide-cancer-fears-1470365.html , archive-date=2022-05-24 , url-access=subscription , url-status=live, title=Inquiry is sought over pesticide cancer fears, website=

Independent.co.uk ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published ...

, date=22 October 2011

References

Bayer Environmental chemistry Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Hertfordshire