December
2006 - January 2007
1. PAN Europe activities
PAN Europe and Health and Environment alliance organise
workshop in the European Parliament
On the 7 of March, PAN Europe and Health and Environment
Alliance (HEAL), hosted by Green MEP Hiltrud Breyer, will organise
an event in the European Parliament (EP) to highlight legislative
measures necessary to protect children against pesticides. The event,
part of a joint campaign of PAN and HEAL, will focus on the vulnerability
of children to pesticides and will call for stringent measures under
the new Regulation for placing pesticides in the market. The workshop
will have as speakers independent researchers and scientists laying
out the science behind the vulnerability of children to pesticides,
the effects of substances with neurotoxic effects and the lack of
protection against residues commonly present in food. The presentations
will be followed by a roundtable where scientists will be able to
answer the questions from the audience.
New PAN Europe review on the state of the art of IPM
and organic systems in potato production in Europe
Despite pesticides currently used in conventional potato production
in Europe having serious health and environmental hazards, the extent
of organic production is still very small. Organic potato producers
face some difficulties in terms of dealing with adequate plant nutrients,
especially nitrogen application; weed, insect and disease control
issues and marketing issues but their profit margins seem to be
equal or higher to conventional farmers due to the higher market
price of organic potatoes.
As for IPM, there are no figures for the extent of certified IPM
potato production in Europe, although there are several standards
being used in different countries. A holistic view, prevention,
correct cultivation techniques, existence of systems for early warning
and advice and preference of non-chemical crop protection are components
in successful IPM systems and should be extended to all potato production
systems in Europe. This new report reviews pesticide use in potato,
techniques avoiding or reducing pesticide use and opportunities
and constraints for their wider adoption in Europe.
Insecticides threaten Europe’s Bees
The bee-keeping industry has suffered heavy annual losses over the
past decade in numerous countries, in Europe and elsewhere. The
suspected culprit is the use of new insecticides. These products
are systemic (contaminate the entire plant including pollen), persistent
and have chronic, or long-term, effect, poisoning bees and altering
their behaviour, resulting in the rapid death of the hive. One of
the active substances which have been blamed for this outcome is
fipronil, which is currently being used under provisional authorisation.
The EU authorities are currently examining the possibility of including
it on their ‘positive’ list of substances (under the
Pesticides Authorisation Directive 91/414), which Member States
may then authorise.
A committee of experts whose advice is key to the authorisation
process, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain & Animal Health
(which assists the Commission), is visibly wavering between simply
banning this substance, and choosing an as-yet unspecified ‘flexible’
solution, which would leave EU Member States a veritable hot potato
to handle. The decision to approve or ban fipronil was again postponed
in the meetings of December 2006 and January 2007.
The stakes are high. On one hand, fipronil earns its manufacturer,
BASF, an annual income of several hundreds of million euros. But
on the other hand, apart from honey and pollen production, the bee-keeping
industry also represents the economic value of pollination to agriculture
(worth some US$200bn worldwide each year, according to the Food
& Agriculture Organisation). What is more, by contributing to
the economic welfare of many small growers, bee-keeping backs up
policies which are struggling to curb loss of rural livelihoods,
which is a challenge in several European countries. General environmental
interests are also on this side of the equation, since fipronil,
a persistent product, which is toxic even in small doses, ends up
accumulating in surface water and the air, where its presence is
beginning to cause concern.
PAN, joined by bee-keepers and several environmental groups have
been jointly calling for the Commission and the Member States experts
to ban fipronil and other insecticides of concern for bees. They
are also demanding that a system be put in place to evaluate the
risks associated with pesticides, also taking into account the chronic
effects of poisoning, analysis of which is not currently done. They
point out that the beehive, a complex organism which, along with
nectar gathering, does an extraordinary job of micro-sampling and
thus provides a vital advance warning system for our environment.
2. Published news and information
Approval of active ingredients in EU review
The EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCFCAH),
in its meeting of 22-23 January has postponed the decision on the
following substances: pirimiphos-methyl (cholinesterase inhibitor),
ethoprophos (cholinesterase inhibitor, acute toxic, carcinogen,
potential groundwater contaminant), 1,3 – dichloropropene
(acute toxic, carcinogen, groundwater contaminant), fipronil (toxic
to bees), methomyl (cholinesterase inhibitor, acute toxic, suspected
endocrine disruptor, potential groundwater contaminant), benfuracarb
(cholinesterase inhibitor), trifluralin, azoxystrobin, imazalil
(carcinogen, reproductive toxin), kresoxim-methyl (carcinogen, potential
groundwater contaminant), spiroxamin, azimsulfuron, prohexadion-calcium
and fluroxypyr.
Court case in France recognises Parkinson’s as
a professional disease caused by neurotoxic pesticides
In October 2006, a Court judging social affairs in Bourges has recognized
Parkinson’s as an occupational disease, following a complaint
from a retired agriculture worker suffering from the disease since
1997. It is the first time such a decision is taken by a Court,
since Parkinson’s is not among the official list of diseases
considered as occupational.
Although the decision will not influence other court cases, it
has serious consequences for employers who can no longer ignore
the importance of communicating and preventing the risks of neurotoxic
pesticides. The risk of contracting Parkinson’s is multiplied
by two in the case of exposure to neurotoxic pesticides, says Jean-Luc
Dupupet, doctor from Caisse Centrale from Mutualité Sociale
Agricole. He supports his claim in numerous scientific studies recently
published. An epidemiological study conducted in France between
1999 and 2001 and entitled “Terre” concludes that the
risk of developing Parkinson’s is multiplied by 1.9 when there
is contact with pesticides or in the case of agriculture workers.
A review of 19 studies about the disease concluded that the risk
of developing Parkinson’s is multiplied by 1.9 among people
with professional exposure to pesticides. Finally, an American study
conducted by the team of Alberto Ascherio from Harvard covering
a population of 143,325 people followed for several years shows
that exposure to pesticides increases the risk of contracting Parkinson’s
by 1.7.
French court condemns the agrochemical giant Monsanto
for misleading publicity
The environmental organisation Eaux
et Rivieres de Bretagne (ERB) won a complaint against the misleading
publicity of Roundup (glyphosate), the herbicide with the highest
worldwide sales. According to the ruling of the Lyon Court, Monsanto
France will have to pay a fine of 15,000 euro. The distributor of
Roundup, Scotts France, was also condemned to pay 15,000 euro. The
Court also ordered the publication of the judgement results in the
daily newspaper Le Monde and the magazine Maison et Jardin.
ERB started the legal process in 2001, appalled by the advertisements
of Monsanto identifying Roundup as “biodegradable” and
“respecting the environment”. These claims were made
in 2000 in an aggressive television publicity campaign. ERB successfully
proved that glyphosate is present in many rivers in Bretagne and
is a product dangerous for the environment and human health. According
to the European Commission, products containing glyphosate have
to be labelled as “dangerous for the aquatic environment”
and “responsible for long-term effects on the environment”.
With this misleading publicity, Monsanto was conveying the message
that the product was not dangerous and targeting amateur users.
But according to ERB, as many as 55% of all rivers in Bretagne are
contaminated by glyphosate above levels permitted for human consumption.
Second Risk Reduction Survey by the OECD
The OECD has published the results of its 2004 questionnaire survey
from member states. The survey was meant to identify pesticides
risk reduction policies introduced, what worked, and what didn’t,
and their costs and benefits during the decade since the first survey
in 1994-1995. It focuses on policy tools and approaches used, best
practices as well as challenges faced in implementing various policy
tools and activities. Only 18 OECD countries responded to the survey:
Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Korea,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia,
Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, the US and the EC.
As usual with the OECD Pesticide Working Group, the focus is on
risk, not hazard, reduction, but there is useful information of
different regulatory actions in different countries and different
approaches. The first section pulls together general results and
the appendix gives the individual country reports to the questionnaire.
Two of the questions have been suggested by PAN Europe: information
on poisonings and protection of vulnerable groups but few countries
responded to these.
Common mixture of pesticides associated with lower
sperm count
There is growing concern that poisoning and other adverse health
effects are increasing because organophosphate insecticides are
now being used in combination with pyrethroid insecticides. This
mix is commonly used to enhance the toxic effects of pyrethroid
insecticides on target insects, especially those that have developed
resistance to this chemical class.
The researchers conducted a pilot biomonitoring study in the United
States to determine whether men in the reproductive cohort study
were being exposed to pesticides environmentally by virtue of frequenting
an agricultural setting. 18 randomly selected urine samples collected
from male participants of reproductive age were screened for 24
parent compounds and metabolites of pesticides and examined the
results in relation to sperm concentration. The results showed high
prevalence of exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides
and the preliminary analyses suggested that the higher exposure
group had lower sperm concentration. The potential of organophosphorus
and pyrethroid mixtures to have enhanced human toxicity needs more
research attention.
Because pesticides are evaluated on an individual basis, important
effects arising from the combination of different substances are
missed. Risk assessment of pesticides urgently needs to take these
findings into consideration and evaluate common mixtures of pesticides.
Long term low-level exposure to organophosphates linked
to neurological impairment
There are many occupational hazards associated with working in agriculture,
including risk of injury and exposure to pesticides. Research examining
neurobehavioural effects of pesticide exposure have focused primarily
on the acute effects in adults working in agriculture. Organophosphate-poisoned
populations have shown a consistent pattern of deficits when compared
to a non-exposed or non-poisoned population in measures of motor
speed and coordination, sustained attention, and information processing
speed. Fewer studies have examined the effect of long-term low-level
exposure on nervous system functioning in agricultural workers.
Pesticides are thought to pose a considerably higher risk to children
than to adults, yet little is known about the extent or magnitude
of health problems related to occupational exposure to pesticides
in children and adolescents.
The present study compared the neurobehavioural performance of
US adolescents and adults working in agriculture and examined the
impact of years working in agriculture on neurobehavioural performance.
One hundred seventy-five Hispanic adolescent and adults completed
a neurobehavioural test battery consisting of 10 computer-based
tests measuring attention, response speed, coordination and memory.
Age, gender, school experience, and years working in agriculture
all impacted performance on the neurobehavioural tests. Comparison
of adult and adolescents did not reveal decreased neurobehavioural
performance in adolescents. On several tests the adolescents performed
better than adult counterparts. The adolescents and adults were
engaged in comparable agricultural working environments at the time
of the neurobehavioural testing. These findings suggest that, at
the time of exposure to pesticides, adolescents are not more vulnerable
to the effects of working in agriculture. Evidence from this study
suggests that cumulative exposure to low levels of pesticides over
many years of agricultural work is associated with neurological
impairment as measured by the Selective Attention, Symbol-Digit,
Reaction Time tests. Experience handling pesticides was also associated
with deficits in neurobehavioural performance.
Runoff of pesticides used in urban areas
This study establishes an annual watershed budget of pesticide contamination
in the Marne River (France) based on detailed enquiries from farmers'
organisations, public services and residents and pesticide usage.
Results showed that although urban uses were considerably lower
(47 tons/yr) than agricultural ones (4300 tons/yr), the proportion
of the amounts used transferred to surface water, differs considerably
between urban and agricultural environments. Transfer from urban
uses was estimated from runoff experiments with different surfaces,
including concrete, tarmac, sand and gravel, and grass. Transfer
coefficients from agricultural uses were derived from the calibrated
value previously obtained from a detailed budget established for
atrazine, taking into account the specific adsorption capacity (Koc)
and half-life time of each substance used.
The calculated annual budget shows a similar contribution by urban
pesticides to contamination of the Marne River due to runoff over
impervious surfaces as compared to agricultural pesticides used
on cultivated soils (about 11 tons/yr in both cases). These estimates
are consistent with data available from analytical surveys concerning
pesticide occurrence in the rivers of the Paris region.
These results support the introduction of measures to regulate
the use phase of biocides (pesticides for non-agriculture uses)
similar to the measures that have been recently proposed under the
Thematic Strategy for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides.
Chlorpyriphos negative effects in children’s
neurodevelopment
Inner-city US children exposed in utero to high levels of chlorpyriphos
had significantly greater delays in mental and psychomotor development
than peers with low prenatal exposure, investigators reported. Children
born to mothers who had been exposed to high levels of Dursban (chlorpyrifos)
had a fivefold greater risk for delays in psychomotor development,
and a nearly 2.5-fold greater risk for delayed mental development.
Until it was banned for residential use by the Environmental Protection
Agency in 2000, chlorpyriphos was among the most widely used agricultural
and indoor pesticides, found in an estimated 20 million American
homes. In Europe, it is widely used as a pesticide for agriculture
uses and as a biocide in homes and gardens. Chlorpyriphos is an
organophosphate, a class of insecticides that can cause both acute
and sub-acute toxicity. They work by disrupting acetyl cholinesterase,
the enzyme that controls the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, resulting
in over-stimulation of nerves and muscles. Organophosphates are
absorbed by inhalation, ingestion, and through the skin, and can
cause symptoms that include headache, hypersecretion, muscle twitching,
nausea, diarrhoea, respiratory depression, seizures and loss of
consciousness.
In the current analysis, the investigators evaluated the neurotoxicant
effects of prenatal exposure to chlorpyriphos in 254 of the children,
who are part of an ongoing prospective study through the first three
years of their lives. The study measured cognitive and motor development
at 12, 24, and 36 months of age using the Bayley Scales of Infant
Development and child behaviour at 36 months using the Child Behaviour
Checklist. The authors found that children with high exposure, on
average scored 6.5 points lower on the Bayley Psychomotor Development
Index and 3.3 points lower on the Bayley Mental Development Index
at age three, compared with children with lower exposure levels.
They also found that the developmental trajectories for psychomotor
development index and mental development index scores confirmed
that adverse cognitive and psychomotor effects increased over time,
and these effects were present in both Dominican and black subjects,
which supported the main conclusion of the study.
In addition, children with high levels of prenatal exposure to
the pesticide were significantly more likely than children with
low exposure to score in the clinical range on tests for attention
problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and pervasive
developmental disorder problems at 3 years of age.
3. News from PAN Europe partners
Highly contaminated fruits and vegetables found by
Greenpeace in Germany and Austria
After analysing pesticides residues in fruits and vegetables, Greenpeace
Germany has found several samples to be highly contaminated with
acutely toxic pesticides. Two per cent (12 samples) of the 576 fruit
and vegetable samples on sale at the leading German and Austrian
supermarkets exceed the Acute Reference Dose (ARfD) for children.
Children's health is at risk if eating this produce just once. Nine
per cent (seven out of 80 samples) of grapes grown by conventional
farming methods are also over this warning figure. Lettuce is also
affected. Greenpeace reported to the boards of the supermarket chains
concerned and to the authorities as having committed an offence
by repeatedly marketing food dangerous to health.
"A 12-kilogramme child eating just ten of these heavily contaminated
grapes can already suffer damage to health”, says Manfred
Krautter from Greenpeace. Greenpeace is calling on companies and
state authorities to make effective controls and take immediate
steps to protect consumers and stop the sale of dangerous food.
The pesticide contamination of this conventionally-grown produce,
which comes from Spain, Italy and Turkey, exceeds the ARfD up to
twofold. The produce has been sold at several large supermarket
chains in Germany and Austria.
The World Health Organisation and the German Federal Institute
for Risk Assessment (BfR) lay down the ARfD figure. According to
a statement by the BfR in November 2005, "exceedance of the
ARfD is tangible evidence of possible impairment to human health
... an exceedance of the ARfD [is] from the point of view of protection
of consumers' health not acceptable”.
This PAN Europe Newsletter was compiled by Sofia
Parente
Contributions are welcome from PAN Europe network members, PURE
supporters and individuals.
home 
about us 
campaigns 
issues 
resources 
news 
join PAN Europe 
links 
credits 
