Local Authorities are taking action to protect human health and the environment despite lack of leadership from Government Written by Jon Burke (Councillor at Hackney Council from 2014 to 2020 and a Hackney Council Cabinet Member from 2016 to 2020) The UK Government is reviewing our relationship with pesticides [...]
With a climate change emergency, collapsing biodiversity and a global health crisis underway it is imperative that our urban spaces become healthier places for people and wildlife. The body of evidence linking pesticides to serious human health and environmental harms is growing, as is the movement to end their use. [...]
by Emma Pavans de Ceccatty, Campaigns Assistant, PAN UK This last year has been incredibly challenging for everyone. It’s been especially tough to engage people on issues like the dangers of pesticides. Yet, like resilient dandelions growing through the concrete, Pesticide-Free Town campaigners have shown their creativity and determination in [...]
Rt Hon George Eustice, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF 12th January 2021 Dear Secretary of State, We are extremely disappointed to hear that the UK Government has decided to grant an emergency derogation allowing sugar beet producers to use seeds [...]
In a comprehensive study released today, scientists report that pesticide poisonings on farms around the world have risen dramatically since the last global assessment 30 years ago. Based on an evaluation of available poisoning data from countries all over the world, the researchers conclude that there are about 385 million [...]
On Friday 4th December, the UK Government published the long-awaited UK ‘Revised National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides’ (NAP). The draft, which has been agreed between Defra and the devolved administrations, was released alongside a public consultation that will last for 90 days ending on 26th February 2021. [...]
A letter co-signed by PAN UK and fourteen other organisations and experts concerned about the impact of toxic chemicals on human health has been sent to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock. The letter, which is supported by Breast Cancer UK and the Alliance for Cancer Prevention, is calling on the [...]
by Keith Tyrell, Director, PAN UK A few weeks ago, Qu Dongyu, the Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced his intention to develop a new partnership with CropLife (the pesticides industry trade body) to transform agri-food systems. This marks a major departure for FAO, [...]
by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy and Campaigns, PAN UK Since Joe Biden’s election victory, there has been much speculation in the UK about how the change in administration will affect our much-discussed trade deal with the US. Donald Trump has been the perfect ‘bad guy’ – the quintessential [...]
by Steph Morren, Senior Policy Officer, RSPB In 2010, the world signed up to a set of 20 global targets, known as the Aichi targets, to halt the disastrous loss of biodiversity by 2020. Well, we’ve reached 2020 and sadly are still a very long way from halting biodiversity [...]
Trade deals, pesticides and why we have joined the Future British Standards Coalition by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy & Campaigns, PAN UK PAN UK is proud to have been invited to join the recently-launched Future British Standards Coalition. We will be providing expertise on pesticides to this new panel [...]
Moise and Celestine shared the tragic story of their son dying from pesticide poisoning. Credit PAN UK by Sheila Willis, Head of International Programmes, PAN UK Last November, I was collecting data in Benin, West Africa. While in Dassa, we were joined by farmers who had agreed [...]
By Stuart Fraser, Kersten UK Hello readers of the PAN UK blog, I work for a company called Kersten UK. Our business specialises in chemical-free integrated weed management and we’d love to share some of our thoughts with you on the topic. We’ve noticed a trend of public bodies moving [...]
by Nick Mole, Policy Officer, PAN UK UPDATE (26th Oct 2020): FRANCE AND NEONICOTINOIDS There are mixed messages coming from France about the continued use of neonicotinoid insecticides. On the one hand the European Court of Justice ruled that France was entirely within its rights [...]
by Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology, University of Sussex The charity, Songbird Survival, are funding two PhD students in my lab at Sussex University, Priyesha Vijendra and Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, to investigate whether pesticides are contributing to the ongoing declines of farmland birds. Impacts of pesticides on birds first [...]
by Sheila Willis, Head of International Programmes, PAN UK According to an April 2020 forecast by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), ‘global trade volumes are expected to fall by between 13% and 32% in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts normal economic activity and life around the world.’ The [...]
by Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, City University of London and author of Feeding Britain It is trite to say that Covid-19 has been a wake-up call, not because it is not true, but because the lessons might so easily be ignored. Some have argued that the food [...]
We're proud to support The Wildlife Trusts, and PAN UK trustee, Professor Dave Goulson, on the launch today of a new report Reversing the Decline in Insects. The report comes at a critical time for insects. There is ongoing evidence for insect declines and the future of insects – and [...]
How big business uses the conspiracy playbook to avoid regulation (written by Nick Mole, Policy Officer, PAN UK) These are indeed very strange times we find ourselves in. Normal everyday lives have been put on indefinite hold, pubs and restaurants are shut, holidays and travel a thing of the past [...]
Background While most of the world is on hold, councils across the UK are still carrying out some of their work, including weed control. That means, unfortunately, that many are still spraying herbicides on our streets, pavements, verges, playgrounds and other urban green spaces, even when the general [...]
