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A platform is launched in France to inform the public and call for action on the exposure to pesticides
25 Feb 2025
An interactive platform launched by 4 NGOs and two private companies is now online to inform the public and demand measures against pesticide exposure in France
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A double standard in global trade and EU health protection: How Europe’s banned pesticides end up on our plates
08 Oct 2024
A new report by PAN Europe reveals that hazardous pesticides banned in Europe can still be found in European consumers’ diets. These toxic pesticides, often produced by...
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EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL: THE MANY RISKS
25 Sep 2024
The Heinrich Böll Foundation, linked to the German Green Party, has put out their assessment of the risks the European Green Deal faces under the new European Commission. Those ri...
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Protecting pollinators in the EU
16 May 2024
Pesticides are chemicals used to protect plants from harmful organisms and diseases. While they help boost yields, enhance the look, and sometimes the flavour of agricultural produ...
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Glyphosate found in ready-made soups in Italy
27 Feb 2024
The consumer rights magazine Il Salvagente (a member of SAFE) conducted an investigation on ready-made soups, discovering that these products often contain glyphosate. Upon examini...
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European Parliament vetoes Commission’s proposal to tolerate MRLs for thiacloprid
19 Jan 2024
The European Parliament voted against the European Commission’s proposal to tolerate maximum residue levels (MRLs) for thiacloprid above the determination threshold for around th...
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The European Commission proposes re-approval of glyphosate for 10 years
21 Sep 2023
The European Commission has put forth a proposal to grant a 10-year extension for glyphosate. The contentious chemical substance stands as the most widely utilised pesticide across...
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Hazardous chemicals, 35 new substances added to the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulation
30 Aug 2023
EU exporters will need to inform authorities about their plans to export 35 additional dangerous chemicals, following an amendment to the EU Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulation...
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European Court of Justice bans use of bee-toxic pesticides
19 Jan 2023
The European Court of Justice ruled that EU countries should no longer be allowed temporary exemptions for banned, bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides. These prohibition measures we...
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New RAC assessment on the risks of glyphosate
03 Jun 2022
On May 30th, The Risk Evaluation Committee (RAC) from ECHA published the conclusions of its assessment on the various risks of glyphosate. Based on hundreds of feedbacks from vario...
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New report reveals EU’s failure to reduce use of most dangerous pesticides
24 May 2022
Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) just released a new report highlighting that the European Union (EU) is alarmingly going in the wrong direction regarding pesticides us...
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Recent call to reform the pesticides evaluation system.
17 Mar 2022
In a recent video, MEP Eric Andrieu, points out the shortcomings in the current pesticide evaluation system. Highlighting that the current situation induces a great health risk, wh...
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Emmanuel Macron unveils the priorities of the French EU Presidency
10 Dec 2021
French president Emmanuel Macron held a press on conference on December 9th to unveil France’s programme for the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, which w...
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New French study on heavy metal exposure in adults and children
07 Jul 2021
On July 1st, 2021 an epidemiological study on heavy metal impregnation in adults and children was released by the French National Public Health Agency. The study – ...
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Provisional agreement reached on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy
29 Jun 2021
On June 25th, 2021, a deal was finally found between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council on the reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP...
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Renewal of approval of glyphosate in 2022 : The Assessment Group on Glyphosate releases its draft assessment
16 Jun 2021
In May 2019, the European Commission appointed France, Hungary, The Netherlands and Sweden to act as rapporteur Member States for the next assessment on glyphosate. Glyp...
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Bulgaria: Pesticide with EU-banned substance still widely used in Bulgarian agriculture
19 Apr 2021
The investigative journalist Valia Ahchieva published a video showing a sad reality in Bulgaria: The Mocap, a plant protection product containing an ingredient banned by the EU is ...
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European Ombudsman asks Commission to increase transparency in the approval process for pesticides
14 Dec 2020
In a recently published decision, the EU Ombudsman has raised concerns regarding the current procedure for the approval of active substances in pesticides by the Commission. The pr...
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European Commission publishes its chemicals strategy
14 Oct 2020
The EC published its new Chemicals Strategy on the 14th October (read it here). The EU chemicals strategy aims to address the cumulative and combined effects of chemicals, includin...
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EFSA report offers snapshot into pesticide residues on food
11 Apr 2020
The European food supply chain and food safety system are proving to be extremely resilient, according to Europe’s People Party (EPP) coordinator at European ParliamentR...
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FleishmanHillard document rekindles the war on glyphosate
17 May 2019
French news channel France 2 television recently issued a report about a document from the largest Brussels-based consultancy FleishmanHillard showing which politicians, scientists...
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Action needed to ensure a higher level of protection from pesticides in Europe
07 Dec 2018
An open letter of EU coalition of concerned citizens and NGOs calls EU regulators for a higher level of protection from pesticides by fulfilling the 15 manifesto demands. Read the ...
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Rigorous Science, Safe Food, and a Healthy Environment – A Manifesto
31 Oct 2018
The European Union has one of the best regulations for pesticides in the world – in theory. But it is not implemented in practice. SAFE has joined the new “Citizens for Scien...
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The pesticide-free town: Sowing the seeds of tomorrow
17 Jul 2018
In 2014 Mals, a small town in the north of Italy, became the first community in the world to ban pesticide use through a referendum. How did these activists triumph over the pestic...
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Europol: Massive seizure of fake pesticides which could spray the size of the UK
13 Jul 2018
Europol’s annual Operation SILVER AXE III seized the largest-ever amount of illegal or counterfeit pesticides in Europe this week. But the fact that such massive amounts of illeg...
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New guidance on nanotechnologies in food and feed
04 Jul 2018
EFSA has published its guidance on how to assess the safety of nanoscience and nanotechnology applications. The guidance focuses on the safety assessment for human and animal healt...
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Pesticide residues: new advice on foods for infants and young children
28 Jun 2018
Following a request from the European Commission, EFSA has made a number of recommendations to further protect young infants from potential risks posed by pesticide residues in foo...
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High risk of food shortages without pesticides, says chemical giant
18 Jun 2018
Head of Syngenta, world’s biggest pesticide maker, says rejecting farming tech could have serious consequences within 20 years. Read the full article on The Guardian here....
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Pesticide Dependency Reductions must become one of the success indicators of the Common Agricultural Policy
05 Jun 2018
On the 1st of June, the European Commission has published its legislative proposals and its impact assessment on CAP reform. Within the hundreds of pages of documents, pesticide us...
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Glyphosate shown to disrupt microbiome ‘at safe levels’, study claims
17 May 2018
Study on rats said to show that the chemical, found in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, poses ‘a significant public health concern’. According to the pilot study, the substance...
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Weedkiller products more toxic than their active ingredient, tests show
08 May 2018
After more than 40 years of widespread use, new scientific tests show that some popular weedkilling products, like Monsanto’s widely-used Roundup, have higher rates of toxicity t...
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Farmers hail new transparency rules in food safety, still want science-based decisions
18 Apr 2018
EU farmers have welcomed the European Commission’s new rules on transparency in food safety assessments. However, it is still uncertain to which extent this will ensure that futu...
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EU Commission wants new powers to vet product safety
12 Apr 2018
On April 11, the European Commission proposed giving itself new powers to request scientific studies on the safety of products, in an effort to quell public concerns that industry ...
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Six member states call for glyphosate alternatives, exit plan
05 Jan 2018
Six member states that opposed the re-authorisation glyphosate, the world’s most commonly used weedkiller, sent a letter to the European Commission last month asking the EU execu...
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Is Glyphosate safe? We have the right to know
16 Dec 2017
By Emilia Korkea-aho and Päivi Leino In November 2017, after a great deal of political maneuvering, the EU Member States decided to extend authorization for glyphosate, the world...
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German vote swings EU decision on 5-year glyphosate renewal
28 Nov 2017
EU member states agreed on Monday (27 November) on a five-year renewal period for the controversial herbicide glyphosate, used by Monsanto in its Roundup product. The decision was ...
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Member states approve new organic rules ahead of Parliament vote
22 Nov 2017
EU member states agreed on Monday (20 November) to a new set of rules for organic farming, simplifying the system and creating a level playing field for EU produce and imports. The...
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MEPs demand glyphosate phase-out, with full ban by end 2022
24 Oct 2017
Parliament backed a full ban on glyphosate-based herbicides by December 2022 and immediate restrictions on the use of the substance, on Tuesday. Read the full article on Eur...
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Andriukaitis: ‘Enough’ with member states hiding behind the Commission on glyphosate
10 Oct 2017
The member states should stop hiding behind or even pointing the finger at the European Commission regarding the re-authorisation of the world’s most commonly used weedkiller, gl...
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MEPs reject Commission’s endocrine disruptor definition
09 Oct 2017
The European Commission will have to rewrite its definition of endocrine disruptors, after MEPs shot down the executive’s proposal in a vote in Strasbourg on Wednesday (4 October...
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Endocrine disruptors: A guilty definition
04 Oct 2017
French socialist MEPs are defiant against the Commission’s “weak, superficial and incomplete” definition of endocrine disruptors, blaming it on French Ecology Minister Nicol...
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Endocrine disruptors: Report exposes scale of contamination as Parliament vote looms
04 Oct 2017
More than one-third of all fruit consumed in the EU is contaminated with residues of endocrine disrupting pesticides, according to a study published on Tuesday (3 October), a day b...
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Netherlands finds second banned chemical on chicken farms as cost of scandal spirals
30 Aug 2017
The tainted eggs scandal deepened once again on Thursday (24 August), as Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers said traces of a second banned insecticide had been found on Dutch po...
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Brussels urges full ban on pesticides suspected of killing bees
27 Mar 2017
The European Commission has proposed a full ban on pesticide substances suspected of having a negative impact on bee colonies in the EU, inflicting a major upset on two of the worl...
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Glyphosate and the crucial battle for independent science
27 Mar 2017
At its core, the political battle for transparency about the herbicide glyphosate is actually a battle for independent science and for the transparent and democratic functioning of...
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Monsanto’s Roundup linked to liver disease, study says
12 Jan 2017
A new study has found that low-dose and long-term exposure to Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup causes liver disease in female rats. Read the full article on EurActiv website. Read...
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Ombudsman criticises Commission’s handling of pesticides
24 Feb 2016
European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has strongly criticised the European Commission’s regulation of pesticides. In early 2013, O’Reilly’s predecessor, Nikiforos Diamandouros,...
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GMOs and pesticides could be tolerated in organic food under new EU rules
12 Feb 2016
MEPs have voted not to strip organic agricultural products of their certification if they are contaminated with GMOs or pesticides, as the majority of cases of contamination are ac...
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EFSA: Pesticides – breakthrough on cumulative risk assessment
27 Jan 2016
EFSA and its European partners have taken a major step forward in their work on assessing the cumulative risks from exposure to pesticides. A software tool has been developed for c...
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Commission’s proposal for stricter thresholds in organic farming opposed
07 Oct 2015
The European Commission is considering stricter pesticide limits for organic products. The organic sector and the European Parliament are not in agreement. Read more here....
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