What EU chemicals policy could achieve
Tightening up regulations on pesticides
Protecting our children´s health
Europe is currently reviewing its EU policy on pesticides. One of the objectives is to reduce the impact of pesticides and its negative effects on our health and the environment. A proposal from the European Commission in 2006 sets out to modernise the system that permits the use of chemical pesticides, taking into consideration scientific evidence and their safety assessments.
Many pesticides are overused in EU countries, end up in our food, and some pose a serious threat to human health, especially to children’s health. Relatively low doses of hazardous pesticides may be a factor in the occurrence of various diseases including cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, asthma and allergies. Strong legislative measures are therefore needed to protect human health and to address the special vulnerability of children, women of childbearing age and pregnant women, and to prevent their exposure to hazardous pesticides.
The so-called “pesticides policy package” proposed by the
Commission includes different pieces of legislation and a strategy*. These proposals present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reduce pesticides use, and to update existing rules on how pesticides are approved by bringing them into line with current scientific understanding of the health impacts of dietary exposure to hazardous pesticide residues.
Hopefully, the final package (expected by the end of 2008 - beginning of 2009) will include a ban on the sale and use of pesticides linked with cancer, DNA mutation, reproductive toxicity, and hormonal disruption (the so called “cut-off criteria”). Pesticides in these categories together contaminate up to 22% of food items tested under the European Community food monitoring programme. Members of the European Parliament supported such a ban in their first reaction to the Commission’s proposal (first reading).
We would like to see two additions to the final package: a ban or severe restriction on pesticides that may damage our immune and neurological systems, and harm foetal development, and a ban on pesticide spraying in and around “sensitive areas”. Currently, pesticides are sprayed in fields bordering residential areas and playgrounds. They are also sprayed in parks and used in gardens around healthcare facilities where children and vulnerable groups, such as pregnant mothers, spend time.
* The “pesticides policy package” includes the “Thematic Strategy”, a Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, and a Regulation on placing plant protection products on the market.
More information on HEAL website - Pesticides section: www.env-health.org/r/68, Pesticides Action Network Europe website: www.pan-europe.info and MDRGF website: www.mdrgf.org
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