Press releases
EU Commission President Juncker’s Science Advisors system recruited experts to help evaluating pesticide authorisation that were part of anti-regulation pressure groups
The health of our soils, this exceptionally high source of biodiversity, is threatened by human activities more than ever and the use of pesticides destroys soil life and depletes nutrient content. On the World Soil Day, Pesticide Action Network Europe sends out a clear message: “by protecting our soils we protect life on earth” and calls EU policy-makers to enforce sustainable agricultural practices in Member States to protect our ‘source of life’. The future of EU agriculture is here at stake.
Today is the 34th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster when a gas tank exploded in a Union Carbide pesticide factory in India, killing thousands of people. To date, half a million people have suffered from health consequences linked to that disaster.
A scientific publication (1) released today in the Journal of Environmental Health finds that an industry-funded study had drawn biased and unscientific conclusion on the neurodevelopmental toxicity of Chlorpyrifos. The authors of this critique highlight that based on the results obtained from the experiments, the industry should have reported neurodevelopmental toxicity. This was not the case.
EU Member States put bees at risk by failure to adopt a guidance designed to protect them from the harmful effects of pesticides. During the October 2018 meeting of the Standing Committee on Pesticides, EU Member States failed to adopt a measure that would help to protect bees and other pollinators from the harm of pesticides. In particular from the harm presented by a new and growing class of bee toxic pesticides that are being introduced to replace the recently banned neonicotinoids.
EUROPEANS JOIN FORCES calling for a higher level of protection from pesticides: European regulators are letting the citizens of the EU down by allowing the use of harmful pesticides in agriculture and public green areas based on an ‘unfit for purpose’ risk assessment regime that relies on pesticide industry generated toxicity studies.
We, the organisers of the European Citizens’ Initiative to Ban glyphosate and protect people and the environment from toxic pesticides, call on the European Parliament, Council of Ministers and European Commission to conclude the decision-making process for greater transparency of food safety decisions before the upcoming European election.
Read further the Press Release.
At a meeting on 23-24 October[1] 2018, European Commission Directorate General for Health will propose to EU Member States a ban on 11 pesticide active substances. Most of the active substances concerned have been available on the EU market for decades, finally the risks they pose to either human health or the environment have been deemed unacceptable by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
PAN Europe has published today its position paper[1] proposing how the European Commission’s legislative proposals on the New Delivery Model of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be changed to deliver on reducing EU’s dependency on pesticides.
Members of the European Parliament and European mayors who have gathered today at the European Parliament for a roundtable to discuss European policies, local strategies and future perspectives for pesticide free towns have signed a joint declaration calling on the European Institutions for a total ban on non-agricultural uses of pesticide.
