Press releases

Today, the European Court of Auditors released a report [1] on the European Commission’s actions to protect wild pollinators. Once again, the report highlights a lack of commitment and consistency on the part of the EU executive, and how environmental protection ambitions are being stifled by the will to maintain an intensive model of agriculture, highly dependent on pesticides, which pose a serious threat to both human health and the environment.

PAN Europe welcomes today’s publications by the Commission, which, on World Bee Day, bring the protection of biodiversity as well as of public and environmental health to the forefront of European food policy, and commits to taking action to reduce chemical pesticide use in Europe under its Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity Strategies.

Fifteen years have passed since EU law (EC 396/2005) called to evaluate the impact of pesticide mixtures on human health. To our disappointment EFSA’s pilot studies presented yesterday seem unfit for purpose to ensure that pesticides mixtures cause no impact to human health and particularly to the most vulnerable groups in our population.

"Green recovery" from COVID-19 crisis demands healthy and sustainable food system

One third of the food consumed in Europe contains residues of two or more pesticides, according to the annual report published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). For certain foods the situation is even worse, since over 65% of the popular summer fruits tested (currants, strawberries and grapes) were found to contain pesticide “cocktails”. 

The Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology (LPT) Hamburg that was found recently to commit fraud in a series of regulatory tests had also carried out many of the tests in the glyphosate re-approval dossier in 2017, new study reveals.

Today, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) published a report criticising the lack of implementation of mandatory Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles at Member State level, the lack of connection between pesticide use and agricultural subsidies, and lack of transparency in pesticide statistics. This is in line with PAN Europe’s position highlighting that Member States are failing to comply with EU policy [Sustainable Use of Pesticide Directive 2009/128/EC (SUDP)] aimed at effectively reducing pesticide use in agriculture.

EU officials have approved the use of over 100 pesticides since 2011, typically giving them 10-year licenses, without testing their impact on the hormonal system of humans, despite a requirement to do so.

6 December 2019, Brussels – Representatives from the European Member States in the EU Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) today voted to ban the neurotoxic pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl from the EU market, a historic move that has been applauded by health and environment groups [1]. 

Earlier this year, the Austrian parliament had decided to vote a ban on glyphosate, Bayer/Monsanto’s flagship herbicide. Austrian lawmakers decided to link the ban to the absence of a negative opinion from the European Commission. A negative opinion from the European Commission could potentially lead to the launch of an infringement procedure. However, the Commission did not provide any opinion to Austria, resulting in a green light for a ban on glyphosate!