Press releases
The leaked draft version of the EU Water Resilience Strategy reveals a shockingly low level of ambition behind the Commission’s bold promises to promote low-input agriculture and tackle PFAS and pesticide pollution at their source. In fact, it contradicts the EU’s own legal obligations and years of work towards achieving sustainable agriculture.
New figures released by the European Food Safety Authority [1] reveal that 42% of European food sold across Europe contains pesticide residues, with fruits such as pears and oranges being at the top of the list. Alarmingly, over half of these samples contained multiple pesticide residues, revealing that Europeans are exposed to pesticide cocktails. On average, the number of food samples contaminated has hardly changed since 2000, but the number with a pesticide cocktail has doubled.
In an urgent call for action, Members of the European Pesticide Action Network (PAN Europe) projected a clear message onto the European Commission headquarters in Brussels demanding immediate political action to ban PFAS pesticides. This week (14-15 May) is the third time that EU Member states are meeting behind closed doors to discuss a ban on flutolanil, one of the PFAS pesticides that release trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This reprotoxic "forever chemical" contaminates drinking water resources and plant-based food across the EU.
Today, the European Parliament adopted its own-initiative report on the upcoming EU Water Resilience Strategy, signalling the need for stronger efforts to tackle water pollution, including that from pesticides. While the report falls short on the ambition needed to confront Europe’s water crisis, PAN Europe welcomes key provisions calling for increased pesticide monitoring, better enforcement of the Pesticide Regulation, and financial aid for farmers transitioning to low-input and organic farming practices.
No contamination before 1988 - sharp increase since 2010 - current levels very high
Brussels, 23 April 2025 – New data revealing a dramatic rise in levels of the forever chemical TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) in the environment have been published today by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN Europe) in its report Message from the Bottle – The Rapid Rise of TFA Contamination Across the EU.
At 4:30 on Thursday morning, EU institutions reached a provisional agreement on the long-awaited, and first-ever, EU legislative framework for soils: the Soil Monitoring Law. However, the deal falls short of what’s urgently needed, environmental NGOs warn.
The European Parliament’s Environment Committee failed to take a step forward in its ambition to protect Europe’s water resources under the EU Water Resilience Strategy. It adopted a report that has been weakened by the conservative and far-right members, cancelling out important additional efforts to make Europe more climate and water resilient.
The EU is reviewing a guidance document to protect insects and other arthropods against the negative effects of pesticides. The current document is outdated and was co-written by the pesticide industry. It has never led to a ban on pesticides that contribute to Europe's staggering loss of its insect biomass and its farmland bird populations. The EFSA working group preparing the new guideline is unbalanced and is discussing unscientific ecosystem service and disservice concepts. This will not correct the biodiversity collapse we are facing.
A group of over 450 scientists is calling on the European Union to swiftly update its water pollution standards to address the increasing threat of chemical pollution, including PFAS (‘forever chemicals’), in Europe’s freshwater ecosystems.
On the eve of the Pesticide Action Week [1], the Cluj (Romania) Court of Appeal suspended [2] new derogations [3] granted by the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture for the use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds in maize and sunflower. Eco Ruralis and Romapis, a member of PAN Europe, initiated a court case in December, asking the Court to take urgent action to protect pollinators against these illegal derogations.
