an insider's perspective by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr Every day for five weeks, I sat in a San Francisco courtroom. I listened as Dewayne “Lee” Johnson described, in excruciating detail, how non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a painful and potentially terminal cancer, robbed him of his health. I watched Monsanto’s lawyers try to [...]
John Wilson is a new campaigner who has recently launched a Pesticide-Free Towns campaign in Newcastle. He shares his motivations and campaign progression below: I have been lobbying Newcastle Council to stop using glyphosate-based weed killer for over 15 years. I did this first as an individual and now, for [...]
EUROPEANS JOIN FORCES CALLING FOR A HIGHER LEVEL OF PROTECTION FROM PESTICIDES (31st October 2018) We've joined forces with EU and national civil society organisations including ClientEarth, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Global 2000 (Austria), Generations Futures (France) and Justice Pesticides (France), as a coalition manifesto for “rigorous science, safe [...]
by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy & Campaigns (26th October, 2018) The Agriculture Bill currently going through parliament is the first chance the UK has had since 1947 to fundamentally reshape how we grow our food. It offers us the opportunity to usher in a new era of sustainable agriculture which better protects both human health and our natural environment. From PAN UK’s [...]
(18th October 2018) In September, the GMB Union joined an ever-growing range of voices calling for the UK government to immediately ban glyphosate. Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used weedkiller which was declared as ‘probably carcinogenic’ by the World Health Organisation in 2015. As well as being used widely [...]
by Selam Yilma, Communications Officer, PAN Ethiopia (19th September 2018) Pesticide Action Nexus Ethiopia (PAN Ethiopia) has taken on the role of implementing the 'information and communication pillar' of the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) initiative in Ethiopia. This pillar works to complement the work of other EOA partners through creating increased awareness and knowledge [...]
by Keith Tyrell, Director, PAN UK On Friday, 10th August, a jury in California came to a momentous judgement: it agreed with a school groundsman’s claim that his rare form of cancer was caused by exposure to the herbicide known as Roundup. The case has huge implications for glyphosate – the [...]
by Dr Stephanie Williamson, Staff Scientist, PAN UK (9th August 2018) Agroecological approaches to farming are receiving increasing attention, both at international policy level and in some countries’ national programmes. PAN UK’s Agroecology web section gives readers a brief description of agroecology. It also provides case studies in coffee, pineapples [...]
by Nick Mole, Policy Officer, PAN UK (2nd August 2018) On 26th April, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released the results of its latest survey into pesticides used in the amenity sector in the UK. This is the second such survey and it looks at use reported in 2016 [...]
by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy and Campaigns (1st August 2018) On a scorching hot Friday in June, forty decision-makers responsible for managing public spaces around London gathered in Hammersmith for the first ever Pesticide-Free London workshop. Those in attendance included elected councillors and council officers from two-thirds of London [...]
PAN Europe has published an updated edition of its report on alternatives to glyphosate as a contribution to the ongoing discussions among some Member States, led by France, on phasing out glyphosate and promoting alternatives. On the fringe of next week’s gathering of the EU agricultural ministers (Tuesday, 16 July), France will [...]
by Prof Michael Eddleston and Dr Leah Utyasheva Highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) not only harm our health and environment and pollute our food and water.1 They also cause over 150,000 suicide deaths globally each year. Out of the 800 000 individuals who die from suicide worldwide each year - one death every [...]
As the Better Cotton Initiative General Assembly opens, PAN UK publishes a revised version of its report on global pesticide use in cotton. The revised report includes new data on the United States Cotton sector’s pesticide use provided by Cotton Incorporated, and includes a reanalysis of official US government data. [...]
In 2015, the Center for International Environmental Law published a report ‘Lowest Common Denominator’ which examined how a proposed EU-US trade deal could weaken European standards of protection from toxic pesticides. The report analyses recommendations from pesticide industry lobby groups – CropLife America (CPA) and the European Crop Protection Association [...]
Great result for pollinators as ban on bee-toxic pesticides made permanent Today’s news that the European Commission has extended – and made permanent – the existing ban on three bee-toxic neonicotinoids is warmly welcomed by Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK). After spending more than a decade warning of the [...]
Glyphosate isn’t the only pesticide applied in towns and cities but it is certainly the most widely-used. It is sprayed by local councils and other land managers as a weedkiller in many of our green, urban spaces. Concerned citizens wanting their council (or other land managers) to stop using glyphosate come [...]
As the only UK charity focused on tackling the problems caused by pesticides, we are pleased to announce our new working relationship with Garden Organic, the country’s leading organic growing charity. Both organisations actively campaign to promote safe and sustainable alternatives to pesticides. Our combined expertise - whether in organic [...]
Today (Wednesday 28th February) the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) has published its reviews of the scientific evidence on neonicotinoids and the harm they do to bees. Their reviews of approximately 1000 scientific papers has led them to conclude that the three neonicotinoids - clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam - all [...]
Today (Tuesday 27th February) DEFRA launched a consultation entitled 'Health and Harmony - The future of farming, food and the environment in a green Brexit'. The government has labelled the ten-week consultation period a once-in-a-generation opportunity for farmers, landowners and food producers to shape the future of English farming and the environment. [...]
In January 2018, the UK government launched A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment (hereafter referred to as ‘the Plan’). The Plan lays out a range of goals and policies designed to ‘help the natural world regain and retain health’ and restates the government’s commitment [...]
