Velt, member of PAN Europe, published a new report today: 63 different pesticides were found in indoor dust of 10 classrooms spread across Flanders. This is the first-ever pesticide research inside European schools. On average, 18 pesticides were measured per classroom, with up to 36 in two of the classrooms. A majority of the identified pesticides are considered hazardous for humans and especially children. The findings are an alarming signal of the urgent need for better, not less, protection against pesticides. We need to strengthen risk assessment and authorisation frameworks.
Indoor dust of a classroom in 10 primary schools, spread over all Flemish provinces, was sampled and analysed for 540 pesticide residues in an accredited laboratory. The Flemish organisation Velt (the Association for Ecological Living and Gardening) describes the results in its new report Pesticides at school: exploratory research.
“The results are perplexing,” says Geert Gommers, pesticide expert of the organisation Velt. “The body of children is extra sensitive to harmful effects of these toxic chemicals.”
Toxic playmates
Almost a third of the found pesticides have endocrine disrupting properties, 19% are toxic for reproduction and about 16% are neurotoxic [1]. Endocrine disruptors can have harmful effects at very low doses. Therefore, ‘safe’ concentrations cannot be determined [2]. While endocrine disrupting pesticides should, according to EU law, be banned as soon as they are identified as such, they enter the market and the EU, and member states constantly postpone their phasing out.
The Commission’s Omnibus X now proposes to drastically weaken protection even further. This by removing periodic toxicity review for many pesticides, ignoring latest scientific evidence, and leaving banned toxic pesticides longer on the market.
“It is unacceptable that children spend hours learning and playing amidst cocktails of toxic pesticides,” says Kristine De Schamphelaere, policy officer at PAN Europe. “It is appalling that EU Member States fail to protect them, and the EU now proposes to drastically weaken pesticide rules, closing their eyes for new scientific evidence for many pesticides.”
Among the pesticides found in highest concentrations are propiconazole (banned in 2020), captan, dodine, tebuconazole and permethrin (banned for crop protection use, because of its risks for biodiversity and human health, such as neurotoxicity, but still allowed as biocide) [3].
Pesticides found include 6 triazole fungicides. They have particularly hazardous properties (including reprotoxic and carcinogenic properties). Their metabolites lead to severe water contamination, and wide use leads to an increase of resistant, life-threatening fungal infections such as Aspergillus fumigatus. Many of them are classified as ‘Candidates for Substitution’ due to their harmful properties, but Member States fail to substitute them with the many existing alternatives.
Moreover, 12 of 63 found pesticides are PFAS pesticides, problematic pesticides due to their toxicity and persistence, and their metabolite Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This metabolite is classified in the EU as toxic to reproduction, and it is very persistent and very mobile, leading to widespread water pollution across Europe. There have been strong calls for the ban of PFAS pesticides [4].
Policy makers should stop playing with children’s health
Scientific evidence shows the links between exposure to pesticides and increased risks of a wide variety of illnesses and health conditions [5]. Also in people’s homes, cocktails of toxic pesticides are found [6], including in bedrooms [7]. This means that many children are continuously exposed: at home, at school and outside. This study confirms a UNICEF report from 2022, highlighting that Belgium was one of the EU countries where children were most exposed to hazardous pesticides [8]. A recent study further corroborates the high exposure of Belgian children to neurotoxic insecticides [9]. There is currently no risk assessment of continuous exposure to cocktails of pesticides through house dust, which leaves citizens unprotected.
Available data show proximity to fields where pesticides are used is an important factor for the presence of pesticides in indoor dust [10]. The Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive demands that Member States protect nature, water and areas used by the public and vulnerable groups such as children from exposure to pesticides, precisely to avoid such exposure. Member States fail to implement these obligations.
Kristine De Schamphelaere added: “Children's neurologic and hormonal systems are vulnerable to low-dose exposure to such chemicals. The government's refusal to implement the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive, avoiding harmful pesticides and with broad non-sprayed buffer zones close to residential areas, is leading to such dramatic results.”
Loud calls from the scientific community [11], the UN [12], Health organisations [13], and civil society [14] warn that better, not weaker, protection against harmful pesticides is urgently needed, while supporting the wide upscaling of safe and sustainable solutions for truly future-proof farming systems.
Read more: Pesticides at school: exploratory research
Contact:
- Geert Gommers - Expert Pesticides - Velt - geert.gommers [at] velt.nu - 0032 498 59 16 52
- Kristine De Schamphelaere - Policy Officer PAN Europe - kristine [at] pan-europe.info - 0032 473 96 11 20
Notes:
[1] According to the renowned PPDB or BPDB databases of the University of Hertfordshire. The percentages would be higher if ‘possibly’ endocrine disrupting, neurotoxic, reprotoxic or carcinogenic effects were included as well.
[2] Hormone disrupting pesticides (EDCs) | PAN Europe; Position Paper - Strengthening EU Guidance on negligible exposure to pesticides
[3] Propiconazole was banned in 2020 in agriculture due to its reprotoxicity, endocrine disrupting properties and its metabolites contaminating groundwater. Captan, a fungicide used in fruit orchards, has endocrine disrupting and carcinogenic properties. Also tebuconazole has endocrine disrupting properties.
[4] Ban PFAS pesticides and TFA | PAN Europe
[5] Inserm (2021). Collective Expert Review on the Health Effects of Pesticides, EEA, 2023: How pesticides impact human health and ecosystems in Europe, Taiba et al. (2025). Exploring the Joint Association Between Agrichemical Mixtures and Pediatric Cancer, Parrón-Carrillo et al. (2024). Environmental Exposure to Pesticides and the Risk of Child Neurodevelopmental Disorders
[6] Occurrence of pesticide residues in indoor dust of farmworker households across Europe and Argentina; Pesticides in doormat and floor dust from homes close to treated fields: Spatio-temporal variance and determinants of occurrence and concentrations
[7] SOS Slaapkamer: Gemiddeld 21 pesticiden in elke slaapkamer | Velt; Pesticides in our bedrooms | PAN Europe
[9] Pirard et al. (2026) Exposure of Belgian children to multiple classes of currently used pesticides
[10] Deziel et al. (2017). Relative Contributions of Agricultural Drift, Para-Occupational, and Residential Use Exposure Pathways to House Dust Pesticide Concentrations: Meta-Regression of Published Data, Determinants of Agricultural Pesticide Concentrations in Carpet Dust; Gunier et al. (2011). Determinants of Agricultural Pesticide Concentrations in Carpet Dust; Figueredo et al. (2022). Pesticides in doormat and floor dust from homes close to treated fields: Spatio-temporal variance and determinants of occurrence and concentrations
[11] Sprint-h2020.eu; Request to pause the legislative debate on the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus pending an independent impact assessment, Scientific Statement on Pesticides in the Omnibus; Science Journal - Policy Forum: EU Omnibus proposal increases pesticide risks; Netherlands - scientist’s impact assessment of EU-proposal Food and animal safety simplification package (Technische briefing over de EU-wetenschapstoets over het Vereenvoudigingspakket voedsel- en diervoederveiligheid en Video debat Tweede Kamer), Periodic Reassessment or Permanent Approval? A Critical Analysis of the EU Commission’s Proposal to Reform Pesticide and Biocide Authorisation in Europe; Statement by the German Scientific Advisory Board of the National Action Plan on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture; Scientific Advisory Board Warns Against EU Plans Experts see risks in pesticide approval: Assessment of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
[12] UN experts warn that plans to weaken EU pesticide law threaten human rights
[13] POSITION PAPER: Pesticides and Parkinson’s
[14] Food and Feed Safety Omnibus - Weaker protection | PAN Europe; For Health, Bees and Farmers | PAN Europe; Hands Off Nature; Protect Our Food From Toxic Pesticides | WeMove Europe
