EP Environment Committee Adopts Pesticide Amendments
11 November 2008 The amendments adopted today by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee do not take into account the needs of agriculture to efficiently sustain the European food supply, says the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA). The Environment Committee voted to support:
The Authorization Regulation
• Additional cut-off criteria will lead to an unnecessary ban on a number of products which have been shown to meet high safety standards and are currently being used safely by European farmers.
• The three zone authorization concept was removed and exemptions were introduced which would allow Member States to easily reject a pesticide authorization granted by other Member States.
The Sustainable Use Directive
• Amendments were accepted that would lead to the setting of random and arbitrary use reduction targets for pesticides.
More than one third of MEPs in the Environment Committee voted against adoption.
“Regarding authorization, proper risk evaluation is certainly required to ensure that products are safe for both people and the environment,” said ECPA’s Director General Friedhelm Schmider. “However this regulatory direction will have a significant negative impact on the production of key crops in Europe. Simply because a substance has hazardous properties does not mean it cannot be used safely,” Schmider continued. “Crude hazard based cut-off criteria will have a serious negative impact, not only on sustainable agriculture and environmental protection, but it will also drive up food prices and downgrade Europe’s quality of life. Further, the cut-off criteria will reduce biodiversity as it will drive more land into production to maintain the food supply.
“On the Sustainable Use Directive,” said Schmider, “fixing arbitrary use reduction targets does not work; as already seen in the failure to achieve use reduction targets set in Denmark. Pesticide use responds to real, local pest management needs, not to targets. Hence, the way forward is through improving practices.”
Schmider stressed that the crop protection industry will continue to work alongside the Parliament and the other EU institutions as well as the agriculture community, with the aim of finding a final outcome to these legislative proposals that is practical, scientific, and maintains sufficient, safe, plant protection solutions available to sustain the European food supply.
For more information, please visit www.pesticideinformation.eu
Get The Newsletter Today!
