Press releases
Representatives of the #StopGlyphosate European Citizens’ Initiative will present their demands at a hearing in the European Parliament at 3:30 pm today. EU commissioner for health and food safety Vytenis Andriukaitis will present an opening and closing statement at the meeting.
South-Tyrol Organisation for Nature Conservation and Environment Protection, in collaboration with PAN Europe, recently published a report[1] on the contamination of local playgrounds by pesticides from industrial apple production. Grass samples reveal that 40% of the playgrounds are contaminated by pesticides, exposing local children to toxic chemicals.
This morning, EU Member States’ representatives of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) met in Brussels to vote on Commission’s proposal to re-authorise glyphosate, the active substance of the world’s most used herbicide, for 5-years. As the EU license for glyphosate is due to expire on December 15th, the Commission and Member States are under pressure from all fronts to decide whether to re-authorise this chemical, which has of late sparked wide controversy among scientists, regulators, civil society and the pesticide industry.
The toxic effects of Glyphosate reported in the scientific literature were rarely taken into account in the development of the European pesticide risk assessment report, despite the European Law mandate [1].
Les représentants des États membres de l’UE, réunis dans un comité d’experts pour décider du sort du glyphosate, ont décidé de repousser le vote prévu mercredi 25 octobre, a annoncé la Commission européenne. Nature & Progrès,Inter Environnement Wallonie et le PAN Europe regrettent que ce vote soit reporté.
Last week, the French tribunal of Foix sent 4 prejudicial questions to the European Court of Justice, regarding the lack of reliability of the current EU pesticide risk assessment. This is a very timely event as the glyphosate debates raise identical issues. The answers from the European Court of Justice might lead to a major improvement of the safety of citizens and the environment in the EU.
A new research study[1] from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and two Dutch laboratories shows that 45% of Europe’s top soil contains glyphosate residues, demonstrating the over-reliance of the EU agricultural model on this harmful herbicide chemical. In contrast to what its manufactures[2] purport, glyphosate persists in soils affecting not only soil fertility and crop quality, but also human and environmental health.
Today 389 of the 694 members of the European Parliament voted against Commission's controversial proposal for criteria for endocrine disrupting pesticides. The Parliament, for the first time ever, used its tiny democratic right of "scrutiny" it has in this case, the right to block a Commission proposal. Commission now has to go back to the drawing board and change the proposal together with the representatives of the Member States in the Standing Committee.
One-third of European fruit contains 27 potentially harmful endocrine disrupting pesticides (EDPs), reported in scientific literature to cause endocrine disruption in animals and probably in humans.
A new analysis of the Pesticide Action Network reveals that European Commission's health service DG SANTE approves the use of pesticides with potential carcinogenic metabolites as a standard procedure (Table 1 in attached analysis, e.g. Carfentrazone, Mesotrione, Flazasulfuron, Metsulfuron).
