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 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 Professor Bastiaan R. Bloem (NL), medical professor pediatrics Daan Van Brusselen, University of Antwerp (BE), Catherine Cibien, Former Director, French National Committee for UNESCO’s Biosphere Programme (FR), Fiorella Belpoggi, Society of Doctors for Environment (IT), Peter Batary, Professor of Ecology (HU), Prof Ralf Schäfer, Research Center for One Health (DE), environmental toxicology Professor Carsten Brühl (DE), Christian Huyghe, Deputy Scientific Director of Agriculture in the French National Research Institute INRAE, Prof Violette Geissen, Wageningen University (NL), Marion Junghans, Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology (CH), Prof Dave Goulson, University of Sussex (UK), Prof Lieven Bervoets, University of Antwerp (BE), Prof Patrick Santens, Ghent University Hospital (BE),. Lut Arckens, Prof Neurobiology, KU Leuven (BE), Prof Environmental Health Hanns Moshammer, Medical University of Vienna (AT), Jakub Hofman, Professor of 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, Professor for Reproductive Toxicology, Università Politecnica delle Marche (IT) and many more.
You can read the statement and see the signatories HERE.
Journaliste can contact the following scientists:
- Lindsey Hendricks-Franco, Ecologic Institute Berlin, lindsey.hendricksfranco [at] ecologic.eu
- Carsten Brühl, Institute for Environmental Sciences, Landau, Technical University Kaiserslautern, carsten.bruehl [at] rptu.de
- Martina Vijver, Scientific Director and Professor of Ecology at Leiden University, NL
- 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, guy.peer [at] idiv.de
More about the EU plans to weaken the pesticide regulation can be found HERE.
