Letter: Prohibiting the export of banned pesticides and the import of food produced with these chemicals

To: First Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans Health & Food Saftey Commissioner Stella Kyriakides Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski Environment, Oceans & Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius

Subject: Prohibiting the export of banned pesticides and the import of food produced with these chemicals

Dear First Executive Vice President, Dear Commissioners,

We, the undersigned civil society organisations, are writing to ask you to prohibit not only the export of hazardous pesticides that are banned in the EU, but also the import of food and agricultural goods produced with such pesticides outside the EU.

Export of banned pesticides

In July this year, 36 United Nations human rights experts issued a statement calling on the EU and other wealthy nations to end the “deplorable” practice of exporting banned toxic chemicals, including pesticides, to poorer countries with weaker regulations.

An in-depth investigation has shown that, in 2018 alone, EU member states approved the export of more than 81,000 tonnes of pesticides containing 41 hazardous chemicals that have been banned for agricultural use in the EU, in order to protect human health and/or the environment.

Most exports of these hazardous pesticides went to low- and middle-income countries, which lack the capacity to control the substances’ risks throughout their life cycle, and where they result in widespread human rights violations and devastating impacts on human health, biodiversity, ecosystems and the environment.

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