Press releases
A new proposal by the European Commission will not solve the problems with pesticide co-formulants. Co-formulants are substances that make pesticide active ingredients efficient. Many studies show that these substances are toxic. The Commission proposal does not ensure compliance with the EU pesticide regulation (EU) 1107/2009. It fails to impose the toxicity criteria demanded by the law. With the Commission's proposal, citizens' health and the environment will remain unprotected against these "unknown" chemicals.
Next Thursday the European Commission will propose to EU Member States to maintain the notoriously toxic pesticide Propyzamide on the EU market. This EU proposal goes against the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA)’s opinion and against the law. The substance poses high risks to consumers. It is one of the most frequently found toxic pesticides in European-grown fruits and vegetables[1] and is on the list of the Toxic 12 pesticides that should be banned immediately according to PAN Europe.
PAN Europe has submitted a formal complaint to the Court of Justice of the EU. We dispute the 6th extension of approval granted to the pesticide ‘Dimoxystrobin’. This chemical is on the list of the most toxic pesticides that should have been banned years ago. With this case, PAN Europe sets out to challenge the Commission's systematic practice of granting consecutive years-long prolongations to dangerous pesticides, without any proper re-evaluation.
The publication of the "Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products" regulation proposal with an objective to cut pesticides by 50% until 2030 shows the will from the European Commission to resist pressures from pesticide-friendly Member States. Even though the proposal needs strong improvements, PAN Europe welcomes its publication so that democratic discussions can finally start.
A week ahead of the planned publication of the “EU Nature Protection Package”, and with rumours of a second delay persisting, 24 European environment and health groups, farmer organisations and farm worker trade union jointly call on the EU Commission to maintain its ambition and introduce strong and binding targets to avoid the EU Green Deal being further undermined.
The organisers of the European Citizens’ Initiative Save Bees and Farmers (signed by 1.2 million Europeans demanding a 80% reduction of synthetic pesticides by 2030 and a full phase out by 2035) and the European organic movement are looking forward to the European Commission adopting a proposal for a Regulation for a Sustainable Use of pesticides (SUR) on 22 June.
On the basis of the negotiation documents published on 3 June 2022(1), ClientEarth, GLOBAL 2000 (FOE Austria) and PAN Europe acknowledge and welcome the progress made in the negotiations of the new regulation on the Statistics on Agriculture Input and Output (SAIO), with regard to pesticide use data.
The European Parliament and the Council reached yesterday a provisional agreement on a regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Input and Output (SAIO). Member States managed to postpone the publication of quality data on pesticide use to 2028, preventing the EU Commission from properly monitoring the 2030 pesticide reduction objectives from the Green Deal.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) decided to maintain the existing classification of glyphosate: toxic to aquatic life but still no classification as a carcinogen, despite of even stronger scientific evidence than in 2015 when WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans". The "Ban Glyphosate" civil society coalition strongly rejects ECHA’s conclusion that “available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria to classify glyphosate for specific target organ toxicity, or as a carcinogenic,
EU Member States have been legally required since 2011 to phase out 55 pesticides identified as particularly harmful. However, their presence in food has increased dramatically over the last ten years as is shown in a report launched today. These findings reveal a failure by Member States to enforce the laws at the expense of consumer protection.
