The climate emergency is devastating Ethiopian farmers

2023-05-24T10:19:08+01:00May 15th, 2023|

by Dr Stephanie Williamson, PAN UK Staff Scientist PAN Ethiopia teams meet up for week of training in Arba Minch. Credit PAN UK I recently had the privilege of visiting my hard-working, dedicated colleagues in Ethiopia to find out how our joint projects on growing cotton organically and [...]

Calling for greener social housing

2023-03-20T07:59:50+00:00March 19th, 2023|

by Emma Pavans de Ceccatty, Campaigner, PAN UK Over 3.9 million people, or 17% of households in England live in social housing. Our council estates come in all shapes and sizes, from semi-detached maisonettes to high tower blocks, housing an equally diverse range of residents. Yet, the ethnic and architectural [...]

Can UK Food Safety Regulators be trusted?

2023-03-19T20:41:39+00:00March 14th, 2023|

by Professor Erik Millstone, Science Policy, University of Sussex The safety of the UK’s food supply is as important to UK citizens as availability and affordability. But we can only be confident that our food is safe if we are able to trust that farmers, food processers and traders follow [...]

New report shows that alternatives to glyphosate do exist

2023-03-09T19:44:33+00:00March 9th, 2023|Tags: , , |

This year the EU will decide on the re-approval of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, the world's most popular and controversial weed killer. Exposure to the herbicide not only poses a risk to human health and other living organisms, it also threatens biodiversity and the future of agriculture.  Published [...]

UK government allows ‘emergency’ use of banned bee-harming pesticide

2023-01-24T10:34:45+00:00January 24th, 2023|

by Amy Heley, The Pesticide Collaboration The government has announced that for the third year in a row, it will permit the use of the banned pesticide thiamethoxam – a type of neonicotinoid – on sugar beet in England in 2023. A single teaspoon of neonicotinoid is enough to deliver [...]

Chemical pollution – the silent killer of UK rivers

2022-12-20T09:17:22+00:00December 20th, 2022|

By Lauren Harley, Wildfish From the cleaning products we use, to the medicines we take and the food we eat - our everyday lives are filled with chemicals. Their use provides many benefits, but once they have fulfilled their intended purpose, chemicals don’t just disappear. Pesticides, pharmaceuticals and plasticisers (chemicals [...]

Pesticide Atlas: Facts and figures about toxic chemicals in agriculture

2022-12-15T15:27:47+00:00December 15th, 2022|

by Joan Lanfranco, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung While tension is rising amongst EU Member States on new pesticide reduction targets, the recently launched Pesticide Atlas by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Friends of the Earth Europe and Pesticide Action Network Europe, shows that the amount of pesticides used worldwide has increased by 80% since 1990, causing harm [...]

Four decades on the frontline of tackling pesticides

2022-12-07T21:04:45+00:00December 7th, 2022|

by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy & Campaigns, PAN UK The role pesticides play in our lives is often vastly underestimated. Pesticides are present in the majority of our food and in much of our soil and water. They cover the UK’s countryside, reaching far beyond farmland thanks to their [...]

Continued call for FAO to end alliance with pesticide industry

2022-12-05T09:44:55+00:00December 5th, 2022|

As the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Council convenes its 171st Session today, PAN UK calls upon the agency to demonstrate bold leadership on climate action by immediately rescinding its two-year-old agreement with CropLife International, the global association of the world’s biggest pesticide manufacturers. In a letter addressed to FAO Deputy [...]

Where are we with a national ban on urban pesticides in the UK?

2023-10-29T09:43:52+00:00November 8th, 2022|

by Emma Pavans de Ceccatty, Campaigner, PAN UK A report released by PAN Europe earlier this year ‘Pesticide Free Towns: A Diversity of European Approaches’ shows that many of our European neighbours have been making great progress towards banning the use of pesticides in public urban spaces. Luxembourg and France [...]

Half of bread contains pesticide cocktails (plus download the ‘Dirty Dozen’)

2022-11-02T09:56:57+00:00November 2nd, 2022|

Based on official figures, PAN UK has today revealed that the proportion of bread containing two or more pesticides has almost doubled in the past year to 50%. The figure marks a major increase from government testing results over the past decade when, on average, roughly a quarter of bread [...]

Two campaigners take on the largest council in the country

2022-10-27T10:12:58+01:00October 26th, 2022|

PAN UK's Pesticide-Free Towns team recently headed up to Birmingham to support Bee Friendly Brum campaigners, Beth Clay and Laura Hackett, in a presentation to the Council’s Housing and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The two campaigners joined forces in 2021 over the common goal of ending pesticide-use on council-managed [...]

570 pieces of UK environmental legislation could be revoked

2022-10-12T13:07:05+01:00October 12th, 2022|

by William Wilson, Barrister, Wyeside Consulting UK government proposals to dispense with all remaining EU “retained law” carried over from Brexit include plans to revoke 570 pieces of environmental legislation by the end of 2023. Every aspect of environmental legislation (water, air quality, waste, chemicals, pesticides), and laws on agriculture, [...]

Smoke and Mirrors: Exposing the PR tactics of the pesticide industry

2022-09-28T12:25:58+01:00September 27th, 2022|

by Keith Tyrell, Director, PAN UK Today – 27th September – marks the 60th Anniversary of the publication of a truly remarkable book.  Silent Spring has variously been credited with kick-starting the environmental movement and waking up humanity to the fragility of the natural systems on which all life depends. It [...]

Scaling up organic cotton production in Benin

2022-09-06T11:30:46+01:00September 6th, 2022|

By Dr Alex Stuart, International Project Manager (Agroecology), PAN UK My first trip to Benin was a fascinating experience. I arrived in Cotonou, a bustling port city that was originally founded by King Ghezo of Dahomey in 1830 and then occupied by the French from 1883 until Benin gained independence [...]

Pro-pollinator and pro-pesticide? When eco-populism leads us astray

2023-10-29T09:35:36+00:00August 9th, 2022|

by Emma Pavans de Ceccatty, Campaigner, PAN UK With the increase in concern over how to make our cities better for pollinators, we’re learning that not all environmentalism looks the same. Honey bees have long been the “icons” of the climate and nature crises, often to the detriment of the [...]

Healthy banquet or dog’s dinner? The National Food Strategy

2022-07-01T09:15:24+01:00July 1st, 2022|

Never has the UK more needed a plan to ensure our food system is sustainable, healthy and equitable than in the current climate of food insecurity, rising prices and food related health issues. It was encouraging to see the government taking an important step forward when it announced it was [...]

Call for United Nations to end partnership with pesticide industry

2022-06-09T15:34:21+01:00June 9th, 2022|

Today, 430 civil society and Indigenous peoples organisations from 69 countries around the world called on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to uphold human rights and end its partnership with CropLife International. CropLife is the industry association that represents the world’s largest pesticide manufacturers. Ahead of the [...]

Why do some councils reverse their ban on pesticides?

2023-10-29T09:37:10+00:00April 27th, 2022|

by Emma Pavans de Ceccatty, Campaigner, PAN UK Many councils still rely on pesticides, including weedkillers, to keep our pavements, parks, playgrounds, housing estates and many other urban spaces ‘clean and tidy’ and free of ‘weeds’. Yet over 80 councils across the UK have either entirely stopped using these chemicals, [...]

British chicken linked to pesticide poisonings in the Amazon

2022-05-10T15:03:07+01:00April 25th, 2022|

British shoppers are unknowingly buying supermarket chicken that is linked to the poisoning of people and rare tropical animals in the Amazon in a “hidden scandal”, according to the Soil Association’s new ‘Stop Poison Poultry’ campaign. Vital Latin American ecosystems are falling victim to the toxic chemicals sprayed on soya [...]

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