EU parliment votes on pesticides

The long awaited vote on the use and classification of pesticides in the EU was held on the 13th January.

The vote was opposed by Spain, Hungary, the UK and Ireland. The deal struck will,
according to the EU news portal EurActiv, will : �lead to a ban of a number of hazardous substances that pose a potential threat to human health and the environment�. It will also oblige �member states to embrace more sustainable use of pesticides�.

The EU Commission welcomed the Parliament�s decision, stating that �the new legislation will increase the protection of human health and the environment, will lead to a better protection of agricultural production and will extend and deepen the single market of plant protection products�

The package has yet to be formally adopted by the Council, which remains divided over the issue, despite a compromise reached in December.
That compromise deal divided up Europe into three mutual recognition zones - north, centre and south. Member states will still be allowed to ban specific products.
Indeed, that December deal would still allow for the use of pesticides due to be banned for up to five years, if they are proven to be what is considered essential for crop survival.
Otherwise, operators have three years to replace products containing certain hazardous substances, provided safer alternatives can be shown to exist.

Member states will have to adopt national action plans on pesticide use, and to work towards usage reduction and the establishment of appropriate measures such as protection of nature and establishment of buffer zones. Limitations will also be placed on the public use of pesticides.
Most of the debate has centred on price of food production and on the change from a risk to a hazard-based system.

When queried about the issue, our own Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food claimed that �the proposed hazard-based system will limit the number and type of plant protection products on the market without contributing to any significant reduction in overall operator, bystander, consumer or environmental exposures�.

They also pointed out that �some substances, which may fail to meet the criteria, are crucial to crop protection in Ireland.�

Withdrawal of products �is likely to cause significant agronomic and economic damage, will lead to a significant adverse impact on crop protection, will limit the range of chemistry available to avoid the build-up of resistance and will result in dramatically reduced crop yields� they suggested.

Most of the support for the change in legislation has come from environmental and health NGOs, and the organic farming and food sectors.

After the vote last week, Ireland�s largest certification body, the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA) �welcomed the 13th January vote in the EU Parliament to tighten the rules governing pesticide use and to ban the use of 22 chemicals deemed to be harmful to human health.�

They also stated that �the banned substances have been associated with causing cancer or having the potential to interfere with the human reproductive or hormonal
systems.

Kate Carmody Chairperson of IOFGA stated, �IOFGA welcomes the fact that the EU Parliament has put the protection of human health first, in banning these potentially dangerous pesticides many of which are endocrine disruptors. They did this despite extensive lobbying from the agrichemical industry.�

She also pointed out that �the fact that there is a thriving and growing organic farming sector in Ireland and across the EU which does not rely on pesticides proves that they are not necessary for the production of quality food.�

A qualified biochemist with a family history in the profession dating back to the 1830s, Carmody also stated that �we should remember that pesticides are essentially poisons which are routinely sprayed on crops in conventional agriculture. Do we really want to spray these on our food?�

pic from: www.citizenscampaign.org