PAN UK is delighted with this week’s reset deal which commits the UK to following EU existing and future pesticide standards. While far from perfect, the EU’s pesticide standards are the strongest in the world in terms of protecting human health and the environment, and the UK played a seminal [...]
PAN UK will shortly join colleagues from PAN International in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions – the ‘BRS COPS’ – where important decisions on a range of hazardous pesticides are on the table. The Stockholm Convention is focused on persistent [...]
The 6th edition of the Chocolate Scorecard has ranked Tony’s Chocolonely and Ritter Sport as among the most sustainable chocolate companies in the world. Run by Be Slavery Free, the scorecard ranks companies based on traceability and transparency across supply chains, whether they pay farmers a living income, efforts to [...]
Pesticides are causing overwhelming negative effects on hundreds of species of microorganisms, plants, insects, fish, birds and mammals that they are not intended to harm, and globally their use is a major contributor to the biodiversity crisis. That is the finding of the first study assessing the impacts of pesticides [...]
A study by the University of Sussex, published in Science of the Total Environment, has found that there is a high prevalence of veterinary drugs in bird nests. They analysed 103 blue and great tit nests sent in by volunteers on the Nesting Neighbour Scheme at the British Trust for [...]
By Aline Pompermaier & Marilia Hartmann, Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation, Federal University of Fronteira Sul Our recent study published by Scientific Reports has found that glyphosate-based pesticides significantly affect the early life stages of amphibians. Amphibians are experiencing a global population decline, with over a third of species threatened [...]
Climate change is the defining issue of our time. Food and agriculture play a major role. This week, the international community is convening in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As extreme weather events threaten lives and economies [...]
by Nick Tigg, Lewes Town Councillor Weeds spring up in unlikely places. They flourish in apparently unpromising soil, enthusiastically spreading through the fault lines under our feet. Which is also, coincidentally, how revolutions begin. And up on Lewes’s Nevill Estate in East Sussex, the smallest of revolutions is starting to [...]
Calling on our new government to undo the damage done to UK pesticide standards As we prepare to head off to Labour Party Conference this weekend, our minds are focused on what actions need to be taken by the new government to reduce pesticide-related harms to both human health and [...]
by Dr Victoria Burton, Ecologist, Natural History Museum It is widely recognised that human activities are driving global declines in biodiversity through land-use change, climate change, and pollution, including pesticide use. Soil biodiversity - comprising organisms like earthworms, insects, and mites - is crucial for maintaining healthy soils and is [...]
Calling for the UK government to ban the use of pesticides in publicly run areas of our villages, towns and cities. As part of the Pesticide Collaboration, PAN UK is supporting a new campaign calling on the UK government to ban the use of pesticides in places such as playgrounds, [...]
The third and final part of Atalo Belay’s reflections on ten years of tackling hazardous pesticide use on smallholder cotton farms in Southern Ethiopia Read the first part ‘The pioneers’ here. Read the second part ‘Hard work pays off’ here. Are we winning? We have now trained more than 8,500 [...]
The second of Atalo Belay’s reflections on ten years of tackling hazardous pesticide use on smallholder cotton farms in Southern Ethiopia Read the first part ‘The pioneers’ here. A reason to believe It was difficult to get farmers to believe in the project at first. After years of using pesticides, [...]
The first of Atalo Belay’s (PAN Ethiopia) reflections on ten years of tackling hazardous pesticide use on smallholder cotton farms in Southern Ethiopia The pesticide problem Ethiopia’s Southern Rift Valley was a cotton production area where large volumes of pesticides were being used by both commercial and smallholder cotton farmers. [...]
New research reveals that many common UK food items contain PFAS pesticides. PAN UK analysed the latest results from the UK government’s residue testing programme, finding that ten different PFAS pesticides were present in spices and a range of fruit and vegetables including grapes, cherries, spinach and tomatoes. Strawberries were [...]
This year we are celebrating 10 years since the start of farmer training in our joint project with PAN Ethiopia to get rid of Highly Hazardous Pesticides on cotton farms in Ethiopia’s Southern Rift Valley. We’re kicking off with a video from PAN Ethiopia’s Director, Dr Tadesse Amera, praising the [...]
Cotton is the world’s most popular natural fibre, produced by over 24 million cotton growers in 75 countries. Whilst cotton farmers and workers are indispensable to the global fashion industry, they are largely excluded from conversations and stories around sustainability. To understand and transform the fashion and textile industry, we [...]
The growing movement calling for supermarkets to stop selling harmful gardening pesticide products continues to make progress with your help. A number of major supermarkets are currently reconsidering their sale of synthetic pesticides so an email from you now could have real impact. Thanks to public pressure, Co-op and [...]
UK supermarkets have huge global footprints and the power to make change. They urgently need to ban bee-toxic pesticides and support growers around the world to adopt more sustainable, non-chemical alternatives. Our pollinators need us! Join us in asking Asda, Aldi, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose [...]
New analysis of official Environment Agency data has revealed the worrying scale of chemical cocktail pollution in rivers and other freshwater sites across England. The research, which looked at the prevalence of give chemical cocktails known to have toxic impacts for wildlife, also highlights the lack of official monitoring for [...]
