A new encompassing report released this week exposes a crisis brewing in the heart of the global coffee industry: the widespread use of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) across coffee-producing countries. These include pesticides linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, reproductive harm, endocrine disruption, and catastrophic biodiversity loss. Many of these pesticides are banned in the EU, yet European companies continue to manufacture them for export, creating a toxic double standard. PAN Europe highlights that Europe must strengthen its legislation and stop promoting the use of dangerous pesticides in Europe and the rest of the world.
The report, Poison in Your Coffee, has been carried out by Coffee Watch, Inkota-network, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, and Pesticide Action Network UK. It synthesises scientific literature, government data, and field research across Brazil, Vietnam, Kenya, Colombia, and other major producing regions. It reveals that coffee, one of the world’s most valuable commodities and a daily ritual for billions of coffee consumers, exposes coffee lovers without their knowledge to highly toxic pesticides banned in Europe. [1]
The report documents:
- Residues in consumers’ coffee, including toxic cocktails of residues of multiple hazardous pesticides
- 159 pesticide active ingredients used in coffee production across major producing countries (Brazil, Kenya and Colombia)
- 60% of pesticides in coffee are classified as Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs)
- 59% of pesticides in coffee are banned in the European Union
- 19% of green coffee (unroasted coffee bean) samples contain pesticide residues
- Workers dying and sickened due to applications of pesticides in coffee production
- Protective equipment is rare: in the Dominican Republic, 87% of farmers reported not wearing masks or gloves; in India, two‑thirds used no protection at all
- Glyphosate, classified as “probably carcinogenic,” still widely used despite global litigation
- Severe ecological impacts, including toxicity to bees, fish, beneficial insects, and soil organisms
- Water contamination is widespread: In Colombia, 81.3% of surface water samples from coffee regions contained pesticide residues
Some snapshots illustrate the scale of the problem. Brazil alone used 19.8 million liters of pesticides on coffee in 2015—which is more per hectare than what is sprayed on maize or soy fields. Vietnam has seen pesticide use increase three- to five-fold in 25 years. In Kenya, coffee accounts for 27% of the national pesticide use despite coffee occupying less than 1% of the land.
The double standard: banned at home, exported abroad
The report highlights a stark regulatory hypocrisy: pesticides banned in the EU and elsewhere continue to be exported to coffee-producing countries, where regulation and legal oversight is weaker. Coffee grown with these chemicals is then legally imported back into consuming countries.
"Dangerous pesticides are ending up in our cups, even though they have been banned in the EU. Their use is harming farmers, local communities, biodiversity and water resources in producing countries, while placing European farmers at a competitive disadvantage," said Angeliki Lysimachou, Head of Science and Policy at PAN Europe. "What is too toxic for use in Europe is too toxic for the rest of the world. The EU must act now to end this unethical and unfair double standard," she added.
In 2020, the EU had promised new legislative measures to stop European companies from producing and exporting hazardous chemicals that have been banned within the Union. This commitment has been abandoned. More recently, the EU promised to put an end to double standards for residues of banned pesticides in imported food. According to a recent legal analysis, current practices may be at breach with the EU law, but it remains unclear whether such measures will be sufficient to close existing loopholes. [2]
Human health impacts: farmers pay the price
Farmworkers and rural communities bear the heaviest burden. Through mixing, spraying, contaminated water, and pesticide drift they face repeated, often daily exposure to some of the most hazardous chemicals in agricultural use, with documented consequences including acute poisoning, respiratory distress, neurological symptoms, reproductive harm and increased cancer risk. Children and pregnant women are especially vulnerable.
Environmental collapse: soils, water, and biodiversity under threat
The report details how pesticide-intensive coffee farming contaminates rivers and groundwater, degrades soil health, and drives biodiversity loss. Pollinators, beneficial insects, and earthworms that are critical for ecosystem balance and coffee productivity itself, are among the most affected. "The coffee industry is biting the hand that feeds it, which in this case is pollinators," warned Sheila Willis of PAN UK. "We are in a mass extinction crisis and yet pesticides in coffee keep contributing to killing countless vital species."
Toxic cocktails of pesticides show up as residues in our cups
Data shows every 5th cup we drink is likely tainted by poison residues. According to PAN Europe’s 2024 report, ‘Double standards, double risk’, 23% of the coffee samples analysed contained pesticides banned in the EU. [3]
As the new report shows, in some cases, the levels are even worse. In the US, 72% of roasted coffee samples contained a glyphosate breakdown product (AMPA), which evidence shows it can also be toxic itself. "As a coffee drinker I personally find this outrageous — given all the lies and secrecy, consumers have no idea what’s really in their coffee," said Etelle Higonnet, Founder and Director of Coffee Watch.
Pesticides used in coffee production - in Brazil, Kenya, and Colombia- are highly hazardous: 60–77% are classified as HHPs, 59% are EU-banned, 22 are carcinogenic, 40 disrupt reproduction or hormones, 29 harm children’s brain development, and 12 require Rotterdam Convention, meaning they require explicit approval before export.
Solutions exist—but require systemic change
The report outlines a comprehensive set of proven solutions, but states that tinkering at the edges will not be enough. Replacing one chemical with a slightly less toxic alternative will not break the cycle. "Sustainable coffee farms around the world are proving that agroecology works, with shade tree systems and biological control instead of pesticides. Sustainable farms can both produce the coffee we love, and protect the planet," said Svane Bender of Deutsche Umwelthilfe. But farmers cannot make this shift alone: they need financial support, technical assistance, and market incentives. "We need immediate action from companies and governments," Bender added. "Every cup of coffee can poison us, or support a safe and healthy future. Solutions exist. Let’s wake up and solve the crisis before it is too late."
Contacts:
- Dr Silke Bollmohr, Inkota-network, bollmohr [at] inkota.de; +491745620107 (German, English)
- Etelle Higonnet, Coffee Watch, etelle.higonnet [at] coffeewatch.org; +12028487792 (French, Spanish, Portuguese)
Read the full report HERE.
Notes:
[1] Summary of the report ‘Poison in your coffee’
[2] Allowing residues of banned pesticides in imported food may breach EU law, finds new legal opinion
