Press releases
The EU Commission shows its close ties to the industry in a 3-day event on pesticide regulations with the industry as the only invited stakeholder. The meeting is held from 5-7 December in Braunschweig, Germany, called ‘Zonal Authorisation Procedure Improvements and Developments’ (ZAPID). (1) It offers the pesticide industry a unique opportunity to lobby policymakers from the Commission and EU Member States' public servants and meet at diners, coffee breaks and even at a Christmas market.
EU Parliament Rejects Pesticides Reduction
Today the European Parliament voted down the Commission’s proposal for an ambitious pesticides reduction in Europe. The proposal was urgent and essential to ensure a minimum of protection of EU citizens and ecosystems from the toxicity of pesticides. The lack of support represents a severe attack on the Green Deal and the public interest. This is a sad day for EU democracy, ahead of European elections.
While the European Commission is poised to formally re-approve the controversial herbicide in the coming days, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe and 4 member organisations are set to challenge the re-approval of glyphosate in EU Court. These organisations are experts in pesticide evaluation and regulation and have significant experience in EU and national Courts.
PAN Europe applauds that some countries share public and scientific concerns
The European Commission's proposal to reapprove the glyphosate licence for 10 years faced another deadlock today. It failed to reach a qualified majority from Member States' representatives in the Appeal Committee. The EU Member States did not agree for the second time in about a month.
Glyphosate and glyphosate based herbicides can harm soil organisms, which perform essential ecosystem functions. This is underlined in a new brief of PAN Europe, summarising important findings from scientific literature.
In a joint report released today, the NGOs Générations Futures and Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe shed light on a previously overlooked concern: a specific category of pesticide active ingredients that are officially recognized as 'PFAS' or Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances.
Background
European NGOs demand an urgent policy rethink and no renewal of glyphosate.
A new study published groundbreaking data on how low levels of glyphosate herbicides - that have previously assumed to be safe - caused cases of leukemia in young rats, following early life exposures. (1)
Today Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) upheld and partially improved the Commission’s proposal for a regulation on the use of pesticides (SUR). The adopted compromise text includes some improvements, but still falls short on key provisions to protect citizens and the environment.
Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) have a fundamental choice to make: will they support an ambitious regulation on the use of pesticides, as urgently asked for by citizens and science, or will their vote echo the agro-chemical industry? A recent survey by market research agency Ipsos and published by the Pesticides Action Network (PAN) Europe again assures: EU citizens don’t want policy-makers to take risks when it comes to pesticides.
In a judgment published on 18 October, the Belgian Council of State overturned Belgium's derogations for the use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds in 4 legal procedures initiated by PAN Europe and its Belgian member, Nature et Progrès Belgique. The judgment follows a ruling from the Court of Justice of the EU that clarified that Member States are not allowed to provide a derogation for the use of a pesticide that has been banned in the EU to protect health or the environment.
