Reports

January 2023

Banned pesticides still in use in the EU

Pesticide active substances can be banned at EU-level if they do not meet the safety criteria to protect human or animal health, the environment or ground water. However, the Europe regulatory framework allows Member States to grant 120-day derogations for the use of pesticides that are not authorised. We analysed the EU Commission database on the so-called ‘emergency authorisations’ for 24 normally non-approved active substances between 2019 and 2022. We found no less than 236 derogations given to 14 substances from that list.

October 2022

EU Pesticide Atlas 2022

In beer and in honey, on fruit and on vegetables, on playgrounds’ grass, in urine and even in the air – traces of pesticides used in agriculture can be found everywhere. That pesticides deteriorate human health, biodiversity, water, and soil is not a new insight by any means. As early as 1962, biologist Rachel Carson published her globally acclaimed book “Silent Spring” in which she described the harmful effects of pesticide use. Her work has been groundbreaking for the environmental movement and led to the ban of highly toxic chemicals such as DDT.

September 2022

Pesticide Paradise: How industry and officials protected the most toxic pesticides from a policy push for sustainable farming

This report shows how the industry wrote the rules for substitution of the most toxic pesticides. As a result none of them have been replaced and contamination of fruit has grown worse over the last 10 years.

May 2022

Forbidden fruit: The dramatic rise in dangerous pesticides found on fruits and vegetables sold in Europe and evidence that governments are failing their legal obligations

European citizens have been exposed to a dramatic rise in the frequency and intensity of  residues of the most toxic pesticides on fruits and vegetables sold in the EU. This report and its primary conclusion contradict official claims that toxic pesticide use is declining and expose a complete failure by Member States to implement EU Regulation and protect consumers.

March 2022

Pesticide Free Towns: A Diversity of European Approaches

This report explores the various approaches taken by eight European member states to reduce or ban pesticide use in “sensitive” public areas and towns at large. The report underscores that phasing out pesticides in these areas is a matter of political will and that pesticidefree town maintenance is already successfully implemented by a multitude of actors and municipalities.

February 2022

Taking aim with a blindfold on

Halving the use and risk of pesticides by 2030 is one of the key measures under the European Green Deal to halt biodiversity loss and promote healthy ecosystems. But currently, no meaningful data are available to show which pesticides are used where, when, and in what quantities for food production and other purposes.

September 2021

Activity Report 2020

September 2021

Pesticides in our bedroom

Intensive agriculture being th edominant model of food production in the EU, citizens living in rural areas are regularly exposed to pesticides. Numerous epidemiological studies indicate that residing in close proximity to intensively farmed land is associated with an increased risk of cancers, miscarriages and birth malformations, cognitiveimpairment, etc. In addition, residents who live closer to pesticide-treated land have shown higher levelsof DNA damage, oxidativestress, and decreased cholinesterasea ctivity.

June 2021

EFSA : Science or ideology? EFSA’s happy genotox marriage with industry-funded ILSI

PAN Europe's latest report, published on World Food Safety Day, shows that the controversial EU food safety agency (EFSA) ignored positive cancer risk test results to clear the use of 12 unstable pesticides that are now widely used in Europe. The report demonstrates that the approvals are unreliable and the pesticides are not proven safe. The substances could help explain rising rates of breast and prostate cancer in Europe. 

April 2021

Using the CAP to turn the IPM triangle on to its solid base

With this report PAN Europe wants to show that the necessary changes to our agricultural system can be done now through an holistic uptake of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). However, as this report shows, the spending of Member States is currently going in the wrong direction : instead of supporting an holistic approach of IPM and the transition towards non-chemical, agroecological practices that work in harmony with nature, they offer CAP subsidies to practices that are not applied in a coherent and integrated approach.

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Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the European Union, European Commission, DG Environment, LIFE programme. Sole responsibility for this publication lies with the authors and the funders are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.