EU and national NGOs launch today a new campaign entitled "For Health, Bees and Farmers". The aim is to allow Europeans to express their voices to EU decision-makers who seem paralysed by industry's scaremongering and misleading communication. The goal of this campaign is to change the course of the European Commission proposal for a Food and Feed Safety Omnibus, which would reduce the level of protection against pesticides and make a big gift to the pesticide industry.
Tjerk Dalhuisen, campaigner and senior communication officer at PAN Europe, said: "Europeans expressed their dismay towards European pesticide policies in many instances over the last few years: European Citizens Initiatives, EU barometers, petitions, etc. A recent IPSOS poll shows that 80% of Europeans demand less pesticides and better protection, not a weakening of the rules. The current European Commission is simply doing the opposite of what people ask for."
The For Bees, Health and Farmers coalition contains organisations active across Europe. A widget was developed to allow citizens to express their views by signing petitions and directly contacting politicians.
Salomé Roynel, policy officer at PAN Europe, explained: "The European Commission’s Food and Feed Safety Omnibus proposal is simply unacceptable: it threatens to weaken the protections against pesticides. If adopted, the omnibus would make unlimited approvals the default for pesticides, limit Member States’ ability to use the latest scientific evidence, make it easier to approve toxic chemicals by derogation and extend grace periods for harmful substances."
Tjerk Dalhuisen concluded: "When a pesticide is banned because it is deemed unacceptably toxic, it has usually been on the market for more than thirty years. Pesticide rules must be tightened, not weakened."
Background information:
In December 2025, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Food and Feed Safety Omnibus [1]. PAN Europe identified major concerns regarding the watering down of important provisions of the current pesticide legislation [2].
The last decision to ban a pesticide was on the PFAS and endocrine disruptor Flufenacet, back in March 2025. Since then, the discussions in the EU pesticide committee SCoPAFF have stalled, and the authorisation of many very toxic pesticides has been extended despite clear concerns of damage to health, water or the environment.
PAN Europe and Générations Futures have identified that with the current proposal, no less than 49 pesticide substances would immediately be granted unlimited approval[3]. Among them are some highly toxic substances, such as acetamiprid, for which mounting scientific evidence proves its neurotoxicity to foetuses and children, as well as glyphosate.
Read more:
- Petition and tool to write to ministers of health, agriculture and environment
- Campaign page with background position paper and scientist statement
- Report: Play it Safe! (IPSOS poll)
Contact:
- Tjerk Dalhuisen, Communication Officer at PAN Europe, tjerk [at] pan-europe.info, +31 6 14699126
Notes:
[2] Position Paper - ‘Food and feed safety omnibus’ threatens EU pesticide rules
