PSD The Pesticides Safety Directorate was an agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It was based in York, England, with about 200 scientific, policy and support staff and was responsible for the authorisation of plant protection products and, from 2005, detergents, in the United Kingdom. In April 2008, it joined the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and in April 2009, became part of a newly formed Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) at the HSE.