Euro-news of NGOs

The Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] is part of the European region of the world-wide Pesticides Action Network (PAN). This section reflects PAN Europe and other NGO activities. Jesper-Lund Larsen reports on the European Federation of Agricultural Workers Pesticide Group. As a regular feature, we include  items from Pestizid-Brief, the monthly newsletter of PAN-Germany, which is not normally available in English.

Agricultural workers’ pesticides policy

The European Federation of Agricultural Workers’ Unions (EFA), has set up a Pesticides Group to address the issues raised by these chemicals. It hopes to establish a joint European education programme for spray operators and to lobby the European Union (EU) to secure a system which adequately assesses pesticides with respect to people and the environment—especially the provision of pure drinking water.
    The Pesticides Group consists of representatives from European trade unions in Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, UK and Belgium, as well as environmental specialists such as the Pesticides Trust in the UK and the Pesticides Action Network (PAN) Germany.
    The group was formed in the spring of 1994, and considering its limited resources, has made good progress.

Spray operator education
Some EU countries have already established guidelines for spray operators, outlining the minimum standards required to carry out pesticide application. These guidelines are now being compiled by the EFA, so that any worker applying pesticides will have a basic knowledge of:

• the relevant legislation, including EU and national regulations;

• chemicals and handling, including risks and safety regulations;

• the working environment, including health hazards, personal protection equipment and work place instructions;   pesticides, including pesticides types, climatic influences and treatment times and intervals; environmental influences and actions, including decomposition, pollution risks and the impact on the flora and fauna;

• the spraying operation, including spraying technique, sprayer types, cleaning and maintenance.

EFA hopes this preliminary pan-European spray operator education programme will allow users to obtain a basic knowledge of how to use pesticides, protect themselves and prevent contamination of the wider environment. 
    The Pesticides Group is due to finish this preliminary material by the end of 1995, to allow time to propose to the European Commission a directive on uniform spray operator education to be ready during 1996.

Drinking water and pesticides
During the last year the EFA working group has helped to influence the European Commission to guarantee pure drinking water in Member States.
    EFA has reported to the Commission and to some national governments, arguing that it is not safe to raise pesticide residue drinking water limits, as proposed by the agrochemical industry. EFA considers there is insufficient evidence that pesticides in drinking water are not harmful, and that consumers, not the chemical industry, must be given the benefit of the doubt.

The EU re-evaluation of pesticides 
The Authorisation Directive lists which pesticides may be used in EU countries. The pesticides used must be entered on a Positive List which is constantly updated. A system of re-evaluating pesticides on the Positive List has started. So far 90 pesticides have been selected which have to be re-assessed by mid-1996.
    With assistance from the Pesticides Trust and PAN Germany, the EFA Pesticides Group has produced a document outlining the hazards posed by these 90 pesticides. These have been taken from official sources such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the World Health Organisation’s hazard classification.
    Many of the 90 pesticides have adverse effects. EFA is concerned about the existence of serious data gaps, and argues that the Commission as well as the governments of the individual countries should screen those pesticides very carefully for risks to human health and the environment.

EFA’s future pesticides policy
In order to make sure that those handling pesticides are exposed to the smallest possible risk, EFA will continue providing documentation on the harmful effects of pesticides on both workers’ health and the wider environment. It is keen to examine which pesticides are found in the marine environment, especially in the North Sea, which pesticides have been banned in the individual EU countries, and whether there is additional documentation on the human impact. Information will be submitted to the Commission and to national governments.
    After the first batch of 90 pesticides have been assessed, EFA will gradually look at others when they are scheduled for re-evaluation.

EFA and alternatives to pesticides
EFA has also discussed the possibilities for alternative methods to the chemical pesticides. For example, a book published by the General Workers Union in Denmark, Green Care, (See PN 26 p23) provides one basis for this continued work.

The socio-economic costs of pesticides
In the longer term, EFA argues for assessment of the socio-economic consequences of continued use of pesticides, for example:

• hospital expenses in connection with poisoning;

• disablement pensions due to long-term injuries;

• purification of drinking water;

• removal of pesticide residues and empty packing;

• pollution costs in the manufacture of pesticides.

Jesper Lund-Larsen, General Workers Union, 30 Nyropsgade, Box, 392 DK 1790, Copenhagen, Denmark, Tel. +45 33 14 21 40, Fax +45 33 97 24 60, Chairman of EFA’s Pesticides Group.
EFA, Rue Fosse-Aux-Loups, 38 BTE 8, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, Tel. +32 2 218 5308, Fax +32 2 219 9926.

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Campaigns win withdrawal of toxic pesticides on flowers

Representatives of the German company AgrEvo and the Swiss company Ciba-Geigy have promised the Blumen-Kampagne (Flower Campaign) they will withdraw their most controversial pesticides from the Colombian flower industry(1).
    Blumen-Kampagne, an alliance of PAN-Germany, Bread for the World (Germany), the human rights organisation FIAN, and the French groups Terre des Hommes and Terre des Femmes, has criticised for a number of years the inadequate health and safety standards for workers in Colombian flower plantations.
    A similar alliance is based in Switzerland, where in Basel, Ciba Geigy, the world’s biggest pesticide producer, announced to representatives of the campaign that three of the most toxic Ciba products would no longer be sold to the Colombian flower industry—these are the organophosphate insecticides phosphamidon, DDVP (dichlorvos—see page 20), and dicrotophos. Phosphamidon is rated by the WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard as Class IA (‘extremely hazardous’) and DDVP and dicrotophos are rated as Class IB (‘highly hazardous’).
    At a meeting of the Blumen-Kampagne and AgrEvo in Bogota, Colombia, the company announced it would withdraw the insecticide Thiodan (endosulfan). AgrEvo, which represents the recently-merged activities of Hoechst and Schering, is one of the major pesticide suppliers to the Colombian flower industry.
    “We welcome this move of Ciba and AgrEvo” explained Frank Brassel of the Blumen-Kampagne. “All pesticide suppliers, like Bayer and BASF, should take similar steps immediately. But what is of concern is that the same active ingredients are still used in other countries, and even in other production sectors of the Colombian economy. Frank Brassel, following a recent visit to Colombia, drew attention to the lack of health and safety regulations and the low awareness of workers of pesticide hazards.

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Release of genetically manipulated plants in Poland

AgrEvo has abandoned plans to release genetically engineered plants in Germany, following widespread criticism(2). However, releases have been planned for two sites in Poland in 1995, according to the company. The sites are at the Instytut Ochrony Roslin in Poznan and the Instytut Uprawy Nawozenia in Wroclaw. Both experiments involve crop plant resistance to the herbicide Basta (glufosinate-ammonium).
    Deliberate release of genetically modified organisms is a contentious issue within the European Union. But it is of even greater concern if this shifts experiments to neighbouring countries, such as Poland, which may not have an adequate regulatory structure to cope with deliberate release.  Are companies taking advantage of lack of regulation?
    Scientists at AgrEvo are also working with the University SGGW-Warszawa on the development of genetically engineered triticale, which is resistant to Basta. Releases in Poland may take place next year, if not this year.

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German company AGMs

Questions at the Hoechst AGM in Frankfurt yielded disappointing responses(3). PAN-Asia Pacific sought a halt to the production and trade in Thiodan (endosulfan), an organochlorine insecticide that is linked with health and environmental concerns in the Philippines (see PN 16 p3). Sales of Thiodan represent over half of the company’s turnover in the Philippines, but Hoechst does not regard the link with poisonings as "sufficiently substantiated".
    Questions at the Bayer AGM turned on the distribution of Nemacur (fenamiphos)—an organophosphate pesticide used against nematodes in Uruguay, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras—and the insecticide Folidol (parathion-methyl) which is distributed in South Africa but not registered in Japan or the UK. The company gave no satisfactory responses to questions raised by PAN and other groups.

References:
1.  FIAN, Pestizid Brief, 6/95.
2.  Martin Kraemer, Pestizid Brief, 5/95.
3.  Bernard Scholer, Pestizid Brief, 6/95.

Pestizid-Brief can be obtained from Carina Weber at PAN-Germany, Nernstweg 32-34, D-22765 Hamburg, Germany, Tel. +49 40 393978, Fax +41 40 3907520.