December 2005 - January 2006
1. PAN Europe activities
Impact Assessment for the revision
of Directive 91/414/EC
The European Commission is currently revising Directive 91/414/EC
on the placement of Plant Protection Products (PPPs) in the market
and commissioned a consortium of consultants to finalise the impact
assessment for the proposal of a new Regulation. In December 2005,
PAN Europe responded to a questionnaire prepared by the consultants.
But just as the internet consultation organised by the Commission
in May 2005, the points surveyed by the consultants were one-sided,
covering only points interesting from the industry point of view
and almost excluding a serious input from the health and environmental
stakeholders.
On 25 January 2006, PAN Europe attended a stakeholders’ meeting
in Brussels that was disappointing from several points of view.
We believe the impact assessment failed to deliver its objectives
and was not sufficiently transparent as no documents were provided
before, during or after the meeting. PAN Europe demanded the completion
of another impact assessment with a problem oriented focus and clear
policy options, including pesticide use reduction and clear cut-off
criteria for the most hazardous substances.
After being delayed several times in previous years, the Commission
has now set a very ambitious timetable for the adoption of a new
regulation on the placement of PPPs on the market. The final impact
assessment should be finalised by the end of February 2006 and the
final draft of the Regulation, incorporating the results from the
impact assessment should be finalised by March. Following an inter-service
consultation, the new regulation will be adopted in the second quarter
of 2006, together with the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable
Use of Pesticides and a new Directive on use reporting.
Action for the elimination of 8 hazardous pesticides
in the EU market
PAN Europe and the EEB- European Environmental Bureau called upon
Ministers and representatives in the Standing Committee on the Food
Chain and Animal Health (SCFCAH) to reject a number of Commission
proposals to include 8 hazardous substances in Annex I of Directive
91/414/EEC. The proposals were in the agenda to be presented and
voted in the meeting of the SCFCAH on 26/27 January. The 8 substances
(azinphos-methyl, carbendazim, dinocap, fenarimol, flusilazole,
methamidophos, procymidone and vinclozolin) included some with mutagenic
and hormone mimicking properties and the results from the evaluation
conducted by Member States experts and scientific advisors recommended
the non-inclusion of these substances in the EU market. The Commission’s
move is particularly worrying since the Commission itself has previously
informed the various registrants of the respective substances in
several letters in August 2005, that it is “considering the
possible non-inclusion of the substance”.
PAN Europe and the EEB also sent a press release to European press
contacts and called upon partners to contact national Ministries
and representatives in the SCFCAH. The response of PAN Europe partners
was encouraging; 13 organisations in 11 different countries contacted
their national representatives and Ministers and 3 organisations
launched internet petitions in the Netherlands, Austria and France.
Unexpectedly, the final agenda for the meeting of the SCFCAH, distributed
in the first day of the meeting, did not include the vote of the
8 substances. Many Member States expressed deep concern about the
approval of these substances, even taking into consideration the
proposed restrictions. The Commission proposal of inclusion would
only be approved by qualified majority and maybe fearing a rejection
of the proposal, the Commission decided to postpone the decision
to another meeting of the SCFAAH or to another Standing Committee.
PAN Europe will continue to advocate for the exclusion of these
substances from the EU market.
Action for the elimination of critical use exemptions
of methyl Bromide
Despite the global consensus for the phase-out of methyl bromide
achieved through the Montreal Protocol, the EU still permitted large
quantities of this chemical for so-called “critical use exemptions”
in 2005. As an ozone-damaging chemical, methyl bromide has a substantial
negative effect on the ozone layer, and thereby has negative effects
on human health and the environment. In addition, methyl bromide
is a highly toxic pesticide and workers who use methyl bromide have
an increased incidence of prostate cancer.
Under the Montreal Protocol and EC Regulation 2037/2000, methyl
bromide was scheduled to be phased out on 31 December 2004 for all
uses except quarantine and pre-shipment. However, the Commission
Decision of 23 August 2005 indicates that the Commission and Member
States approved exemptions amounting to 2,777 tonnes of methyl bromide
for 2005.
Technically and economically feasible alternatives are available
for nearly all of this tonnage. Apart from certain special situations
that would amount to less than about 100 tonnes in total, there
is no legal basis for continuing to grant exemptions in the EC.
Critical Use exemptions for 2006 were discussed by Member States
and the Commission in a meeting in December 2005. In preparation
for that meeting, PAN Europe contacted Member States’ Environment
Ministries and the European Commission demanding that Commission
and Member States put more efforts into virtually eliminating methyl
bromide uses. PAN Europe also called its partners to contact their
national ministries asking for the elimination of critical use exemptions.
You can also read our article on products and countries that still
use methyl bromide. You can compare, for a wide range of food commodities
such as fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, milled and processed
products, dried fruits and nuts, countries and/or companies that
still use methyl bromide.
New PAN Europe Briefings
Two new briefings entitled “Pesticide taxes: national examples
and key ingredients” and “Pesticide residues in water
as ruled by EU legislation” were published in December 2005
and January 2006.
New PAN Europe/PAN Germany report “Towards Pesticide
Use Reduction in Germany”
The PAN Germany report “Towards Pesticide Use Reduction in
Germany” was translated from the German to English by PAN
Europe for a European audience. The 79 page report discusses the
issue of pesticide use reduction in Germany from different angles
and provides useful arguments to counterbalance many of the misleading
arguments of the industry. The report also contains useful information
to public interest groups and NGOs in any (European) country, using
summaries of the latest scientific research into themes such as
“Pesticides and the environment”, “Pesticides
and health” and insights into the global pesticide market.
PAN Germany demands concerning a national pesticide use reduction
plan and calls for change in crop protection are also relevant for
many countries in Europe. We hope that other organisations can use
the same demands and rational expressed by PAN Germany for pesticide
use reduction in their countries.
New sections on PAN Europe website
PAN Europe website features 3 new sections: “About pesticides”,
“About biocides” and “Articles”. In the
new section on pesticides, we give information about the pesticides
legislation in the EU and the substances that were banned and approved
in the EU market. In the new section about biocides, we give concise
information about the biocides legislation in the EU and the review
process following the implementation of the Biocides Directive.
In the section “Articles” we post articles of interest
written by PAN Europe, PAN Europe partners or featuring in scientific
publications or other publications of interest.
2. Published news and information
Household insecticides could double child leukaemia
risk
Children frequently exposed to household insecticides used on plants,
lawns and in head lice shampoos appear to run double the risk of
developing childhood leukaemia, research suggests. A study by French
doctors, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, supports concerns raised in recent years about the use
of toxic insecticides around the home and garden including plant
sprays, medication shampoos and mosquito repellents and a possible
correlation with increased rates of acute leukaemia in children.
The latest study by Inserm, France’s national institute for
medical research, was based on 280 children who had acute leukaemia,
newly diagnosed and 288 children matched for sex and age but disease
free. It showed that the risk of developing acute leukaemia was
almost twice as likely in children whose mothers said that they
had used insecticides in the home while pregnant and long after
the birth. Exposure to garden insecticides and fungicides as a child
was associated with a more than doubling of disease occurrence.
The use of insecticidal shampoos for head lice was associated with
almost twice the risk.
Describing the links as significant, the authors said that preventive
action should be considered to ensure that the health risks to children
were as small as possible. A group of pesticides known as carbamates,
which are present in plant treatments, lice shampoos and insect
sprays, are most commonly linked to cases of leukaemia.
Paraquat poisonings are still a serious problem in
Europe
In the abstracts of the European Association of Poisons Centers
and Clinical Toxicologists XXV International Congress published
recently in "Clinical Toxicology", two abstracts from
Spain and UK show that paraquat poisonings are still a serious problem
in Europe. In Spain, a group of researchers from the National Institute
of Toxicology and Forensic Medicine (Instituto Nacional de Toxicologya
y Ciencias Forenses) documented 517 paraquat exposures registered
in the Poison Control Centre from 1991 to 2004. Occupational exposure
was responsible for 48% of all cases, accidental exposure 29%, intentional
in 19% and unknown in 4% of all cases. In the UK and Ireland, most
pesticide exposures do not result in serious acute problems but
paraquat, ingested either accidentally or deliberately does result
in deaths.
Abstracts of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical
Toxicologists XXV International Congress, Clinical Toxicology (2005),
No 43, pp387 – 538.
New findings on the influence of tobacco industry in the pesticide
regulations
Tobacco is a heavily pesticide-dependent crop. Because pesticides
involve human safety and health issues, they are regulated nationally
and internationally; however, little is known about how tobacco
companies respond to regulatory pressures regarding pesticides.
This study analysed internal tobacco industry documents to describe
industry activities aimed at influencing pesticide regulations.
The authors used a case study approach based on examination of approximately
2,000 internal company documents and 3,885 pages of U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency documents obtained through Freedom of Information
Act requests. The cases involved methoprene, the ethylene bisdithiocarbamates,
and phosphine.
The study show how the tobacco industry successfully altered the
outcome in two cases by hiring ex-agency scientists to write reports
favourable to industry positions regarding pesticide regulations
for national (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and international
(World Health Organization) regulatory bodies. The authors also
show how the industry worked to forestall tobacco pesticide regulation
by attempting to self-regulate in Europe, and how Philip Morris
encouraged a pesticide manufacturer to apply for higher tolerance
levels in Malaysia and Europe while keeping tobacco industry interest
a secret from government regulators. This study suggests that the
tobacco industry is able to exert considerable influence over the
pesticide regulatory process and that increased scrutiny of this
process and protection of the public interest in pesticide regulation
may be warranted.
Parks worker resigns after his theft of 250 ml of paraquat
lead to one death
A parks worker has resigned pending a dismissal hearing after he
stole paraquat that was responsible for the death of Sheffield resident
Mark Langton in the United Kingdom. Sheffield City Council gardener
Gary Knight stole 250ml of paraquat from council stores, transferring
it to an opaque drinks bottle for use on a friends’ patio.
But it passed between four people before it was placed in the fridge
of Carol Langton. Her son, 35 year-old father of six Mark Langton
mistook the paraquat for a soft drink. The liquid is thought only
to have touched his lips but was enough to cause abdominal pain.
He died three weeks later in intensive care of respiratory failure
stemming from paraquat poisoning.
Head of parks, woodlands and countryside Martin Page said: “The
systems which the council had in place at the time of the incident
were considered by the Health & Safety Executive to be adequate
and within the legal requirements for the safe storage of this particular
substance. It is the case that this herbicide was stolen from that
safe storage by an ex-employee”. The council has now changed
pesticides operations. Only staff in supervisory positions have
access to pesticide stores and are keeping more detailed records
of usage.
Court action taken against Knight saw him fined £250 on two
occasions. The council is urging other authorities to review their
pesticide storage and usage procedures to prevent similar incidents
from occurring.
A Case for Revisiting the Safety of Pesticides: A Closer
Look at Neurodevelopment
The quality and quantity of the data about the risk posed to humans
by individual pesticides vary considerably. Unlike obvious birth
defects, most developmental effects cannot be seen at birth or even
later in life. Instead, brain and nervous system disturbances are
expressed in terms of how an individual behaves and functions, which
can vary considerably from birth through adulthood. In a new article
by Theo Colborn (co-author, together with Rachel Carson, of the
book “Silent Spring), the author challenges the protective
value of current pesticide risk assessment strategies in light of
the vast numbers of pesticides on the market and the vast number
of possible target tissues and end points that often differ depending
upon timing of exposure. Using the insecticide chlorpyrifos as a
model, the author reinforces the need for a new approach to determine
the safety of all pesticide classes. Because of the uncertainty
that will continue to exist about the safety of pesticides, it is
apparent that a new regulatory approach to protect human health
is needed.
Chlorpyrifos was recently approved into Annex I and it is therefore
authorised for agricultural uses in the European Union. It will
be evaluated under the biocides Directive for non-agriculture uses
in 2008.
Botanical insecticides, deterrents, and repellents
in modern agriculture and an increasingly regulated world
Botanical insecticides have long been promoted as attractive alternatives
to synthetic chemical insecticides for pest management because botanicals
reputedly pose little threat to the environment or to human health.
The body of scientific literature documenting bioactivity of plant
derivatives to arthropod pests continues to expand, yet only a handful
of botanicals are currently used in agriculture in the industrialized
world, and there are few prospects for commercial development of
new botanical products.
Pyrethrum and neem are well established commercially, pesticides
based on plant essential oils have recently entered the marketplace,
and the use of rotenone appears to be waning. A number of plant
substances have been considered for use as insect antifeedants or
repellents, but apart from some natural mosquito repellents, little
commercial success has ensued for plant substances that modify arthropod
behaviour.
Several factors appear to limit the success of botanicals, most
notably regulatory barriers and the availability of competing products
(newer synthetics, fermentation products, microbials) that are cost-effective
and relatively safe compared with their predecessors. In the context
of agricultural pest management, botanical insecticides are best
suited for use in organic food production in industrialized countries
but can play a much greater role in the production and post-harvest
protection of food in developing countries.
Parkinson's disease in biphenyl exposed workers
A team of Swedish researchers discovered potential links between
exposure to the fungicide biphenyl and Parkinson’s disease.
The article, published in the magazine “Parkinson & related
disorders”, reports a cluster of five cases of Parkinson's
disease among 255 paper mill workers exposed to the fungicide. The
cause of Parkinson’s is still unknown, but epidemiological
studies and animal model studies have indicated an elevated risk
of developing the disease after exposure to pesticides.
Pesticides are of particular interest when researching the links
between Parkinson’s and environmental causes because of the
observed association between the disease and farming or rural living.
For the pesticide paraquat, a dose-dependent relationship between
lifetime cumulative exposure and increased risk for Parkinson’s
disease has been reported. Cases have also been reported after exposure
to the pesticide diquat, dithiocarbamate pesticides and organophosphates.
Biphenyl was withdrawn from Annex I in January 2004 due to the
non-presentation of the dossier for registration by the manufacturer.
The Maximum Residue Limits for the substance have been lowered,
but it is still used as a biocide, as a general heat transfer fluid
and as an intermediate in the production of a variety of compounds
such as plastic.
3. News from PAN Europe partners
PAN UK updates the “List of Lists”
Pesticide Action Network UK has updated and fully revised its popular
“List of Lists” briefing. This unique publication provides
a single reference point for information on pesticides associated
with particularly harmful health or environmental impacts. It includes
the pesticides covered by international conventions and identifies
the pesticides now banned in Europe. It lists pesticides identified
as endocrine disruptors, cancer suspects, those that are extremely
or highly acutely toxic, and other risk categories.
Since the List of Lists was published in 2002, the European Union
has added over 60 pesticides to their list of possible endocrine
disruptors. These chemicals can lead to birth defects, sexual abnormalities
and reproductive failure. In spite of this, the four official sources
quoted (UK and German Environment Agencies, the European Union,
and the OSPAR Convention) agree only on four of more than 80 pesticides:
atrazine, DDT, lindane and tributyltin. Regulatory agencies have
identified an additional 20 pesticides that may cause cancer.
The World Health Organisation indicates that 13 of the most acutely
toxic pesticides have become obsolete since 2002. There are now
52 pesticides that are banned or severely restricted in Europe,
in addition to over 320 that have come off the market for economic
or other reasons.
This new version includes all the EU ‘risk phrases’
used to indicate concerns on pesticide product labels, and the main
websites to follow up for official or robust pesticide information.
The ‘List’ is compiled primarily from official sources,
but it includes two from public interest organisations. The PAN
Dirty Dozen and the World Wide Fund for Nature endocrine disrupting
chemicals lists have both been influential in establishing an early
warning on pesticide hazards, and have drawn attention to hazards
ahead of regulatory processes. It is an essential reference guide
for those concerned with pesticides or chemicals in the environment
and their impacts on health.
New report “Paraquat: unacceptable health risks
for users”
A new extensive review of the impacts of paraquat, largely from
peer-reviewed studies, and published by the Berne Convention, PAN
UK and PAN Asia Pacific, concludes that the pesticide causes daily
suffering to millions of workers. Problems resulting from paraquat
exposure are found around the world: from the United States to Japan
and from Costa Rica to Malaysia. The injuries suffered are debilitating
and sometimes fatal. Associated chronic health problems are now
being identified. In developing countries in particular, paraquat
is widely used under high risk conditions. Problems of poverty are
exacerbated by exposure to hazardous chemicals, as users have no
means to protect themselves. Personal protective equipment is not
available; it is costly and impossible to wear in hot working conditions.
Loss of wages or income from illnesses caused by occupational exposure
to pesticides is rarely compensated. While education, training and
information are urgently needed to avoid poisonings, the basic problem
is the use of high-risk chemicals like paraquat under poor and inappropriate
conditions. The report concludes that alternatives are available
and their implementation must become a priority, along with a phase
out of paraquat.
The key recommendations include the immediate prohibited of paraquat
in developing countries. This is vital in view of the number of
fatal poisonings that have occurred with undiluted and diluted paraquat
and the inadequate work safety standards due to lacking resources
and tropical climates. As poisonings with paraquat at the workplace
also occur in the North, paraquat clearly presents a serious hazard
to humans and the environment wherever it is used. It should be
phased out in all countries to prevent unacceptable harm.
As long as it continues to be marketed, paraquat’s trade
should be regulated at the international level within the PIC procedure.
A number of countries have already decided to ban paraquat or severely
restrict its availability, and many companies have prohibited its
use in crops they grow or purchase, showing that, showing that there
are less hazardous alternatives to paraquat.
The World Health Organization should also reassess the hazard classification
of paraquat.
This PAN Europe Newsletter was compiled by Sofia Parente.
Contributions are welcome from PAN Europe network members, PURE
supporters and individuals.
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