A coalition of leading scientists from many countries call on the European Commission to improve the protection of the environment, biodiversity and citizens' health against harmful pesticides. A letter was sent to the 27 EU Commissioners, signed by 203 specialists in health, toxicology and ecology. The scientists ask the Commission to drop the idea to weaken the pesticide regulation and improve the implementation of the current regulation and close the loopholes instead.
“We call for European policymakers to reject the harmful revisions proposed in a draft of the Omnibus Bill and we offer recommendations for strengthening the risk assessment and management under the EU regulatory framework.”
The statement was initiated and coordinated by Lindsey Franco-Hendricks, Josselin Rouillard, Antonia Riedel and Christoph Heinrich of the Ecologic Institute in Berlin (DE). The signatories are from countries like Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. They include for example leading Parkinson’s expert Prof. Bastiaan R. Bloem (NL), medical Prof. pediatrics Daan Van Brusselen, University of Antwerp (BE), Prof. Paul van der Brink, Wageningen University (NL), Prof. Nico van der Brink, Wageningen University (NL), Prof. Carsten Brühl, Institute for Environmental Sciences Landau, Technical University Kaiserslautern (DE), Martina Vijver, Prof. Ecotoxicology, Leiden University (NL), Catherine Cibien, Former Director, French National Committee for UNESCO’s Biosphere Programme (FR), Fiorella Belpoggi, Society of Doctors for Environment (IT), Peter Batary, Prof. of Ecology (HU), Prof. Ralf Schäfer, Research Center for One Health (DE), Christian Huyghe, Deputy Scientific Director of Agriculture in the French National Research Institute INRAE (FR), Prof. Violette Geissen, Wageningen University (NL), Marion Junghans, Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology (CH), Prof. Dave Goulson, University of Sussex (UK), Matthias Liess, Prof. Ecotoxicology, Head of System-Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ (DE), Prof. Lieven Bervoets, University of Antwerp (BE), Patrick Santens, Prof. Neurology, Ghent University Hospital (BE), Lut Arckens, Prof. Neurobiology, KU Leuven (BE), Hanns Moshammer, Prof. Environmental Health, Medical University of Vienna (AT), Jakub Hofman, Prof. Soil Ecotoxicology, Masaryk University (CZ), Prof. Johann Zaller, BOKU University (AT), Vivi Schlünssen, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University (DK), Prof. Ecotoxicology Natalia Corcoll, University of Gothenburg (SE), Oliana Carnevali, Prof. Reproductive Toxicology, Università Politecnica delle Marche (IT) and many more.
You can read the statement and see the signatories HERE.
Journalists can contact the following scientists:
- Lindsey Hendricks-Franco, Ecologic Institute Berlin, DE, lindsey.hendricksfranco [at] ecologic.eu
- Carsten Brühl, Institute for Environmental Sciences, Landau, Technical University Kaiserslautern, DE, carsten.bruehl [at] rptu.de
- Martina Vijver, Department of Environmental Biology, Leiden University, NL, vijver [at] cml.leidenuniv.nl
- Guy Pe'er, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ and German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Jena-Halle-Leipzig, DE, guy.peer [at] idiv.de
More about the EU plans to weaken the pesticide regulation can be found HERE.
