Brussels Approves ‘Scandalous’ EU Pesticides Limits
September 30, 2009 On Sept. 24, 2009, the European Council of Ministers voted to adopt the Pesticide Authorization Regulation, reports Farmers Guardian. The new regulation changes the approval of pesticides from the risk-based approach to the use of hazard-based "cut-off" criteria.
Experts warn that Without appropriate tools to protect crops from pests and disease, the new rules will reduce crop yields and quality and increase the cost of food to consumers, with the Crop Protection Association (CPA) saying some 15% to 20% of approved crop protection products could be lost as a result.
"It is scandalous that this legislation has been passed at a time of mounting concern over food security," said CPA chief executive Dominic Dyer. “These rules are so at odds with the urgent demands placed on modern, productive agriculture that they call into question the entire EU policy-making process." Dyer said that the entire UK food chain had spoken out against the new rules, and the UK government voted against the regulation after the EU repeatedly refused to carry out an impact assessment into the new rules.
On the same day the regulation passed, the UN called for a 70% increase in agricultural productivity by 2050.
