8th October 2013
Brussels

Luxemburg court rules that EU Commission has to make public the full composition of pesticides

Today, 8th of October 2013, an important verdict has been published by the Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxemburg) on the access of information concerning pesticides [1]. 

In 2010, to PAN Europe and Green Peace Netherlands request for information regarding the exact composition of the pesticide  Glyphosate -impurities, additives, batches used for safety testing-, European Commission answered by a no, refusing to make the information public.

Today the Court of Justice for the European Union ruled confirming that the Arhuus Convention implies that any document containing information about "emission in the environment" needs to be released without any restriction. Since the impurities and other additives are sprayed together with the active substance, they are all part of the "emission" definition and the information cannot be withheld by the European Commission.

PAN Europe considers of major importance to know what impurities and additives are present in the pesticides since they might be harmful while people are exposed to them. The information on "batches" for safety testing also needs to be released by the European Commission. PAN Europe believes it is crucial to know if industry is using the same batches for safety testing as the pesticide used in practice. In the past,there have been discussions about industry using less polluted batches for safety testing than the actual spraying formulation which would result in flawed safety testing data.

Further information

Hans Muilerman, Tel: +316 55807255 hans@pan-europe.info

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