Pesticides News No. 60 - Editorial

It is likely that the number of pesticides that were available on the European market in the 1990s will be halved by 2010. Many of the older pesticides are coming off the European Union market because pesticide manufacturers are not prepared to invest in testing pesticides to meet today’s higher regulatory safety standards. When old insecticides like the organochlorines DDT and lindane received regulatory approval 50 years ago, very few tests were required before allowing them onto the market. Now pesticide companies have to spend anything up to $150 million on developing and testing chemicals and bringing them to market.

From July 2003 a total of 320 pesticides that are not fully backed-up by modern testing requirements will begin to be phased out in the European Union (see pages 8-10). Almost one-third of these may already be obsolete – such as the herbicide 2,4,5-T, used to disastrous effect in Vietnam (see page 22) but for the other two-thirds, farmers and growers will need help in identifying less hazardous alternatives. In cases where there is a shortage of registered alternatives, some chemicals that do not meet the strict new standards will remain on the market until 2007. Over 75 of the pesticides are considered by PAN to be highly hazardous to health or the environment; 25 of these will continue to be widely used elsewhere in the world.

In the UK, many of the 320 pesticides are already withdrawn from use. But there will nevertheless be about 45 pesticides that will be banned, comprising 130 professional agricultural products and 81 products that have been on sale to the general public in garden centres and DIY stores. 

Whilst much ‘old chemistry’ will disappear with the European pesticide clear out, many others are likely to remain. Paraquat, for example, is being vigorously defended by its main producer Syngenta through an on-going EU review of the chemical (see pages 4-7). Since the mid-1980s, PAN and other public interest groups have campaigned against the use of paraquat. Problems with this chemical have been especially prominent in developing countries. In South Africa for example, paraquat has caused ailments such as skin damage to workers in the agricultural sector. Some countries have gone as far as banning paraquat, and public interest groups are calling for more developing countries and the European Union countries to follow suit. It is ironic that Switzerland banned paraquat in 1989 and is now the home country of the main producer, Syngenta.

Many countries have recognised that there is a need to reduce the level of pesticide use and are examining and developing national plans to that end. PAN UK is developing its own version of a national pesticide use reduction strategy (see PN59), which we will publish later in the year. In the meantime researchers in Canada are promoting Pesticide Free Production, a system in which non-GM crops are grown without the use of chemical pest control from emergence to marketing (see page14-15). In Europe, Germany and the Netherlands are at the forefront of policy debate and practical implementation of measures to reduce the use of pesticides, working with all stakeholders including public interest groups. PAN welcomes these developments and will be working to build on progressive work that merits wider recognition. 

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 60, June 2003, page 2]