EU authorizes export of pesticides banned for use in the EU
Spraying pesticides in a field in Bailleul, France.
Photo dated June 2015. AFP / PHILIPPE HUGUEN
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The European Union exports on a massive scale pesticides that are banned within the EU.
The daily Le Monde is today publishing the results of a new investigation by the Swiss NGO Public Eye and Unearthed, the Greenpeace UK investigation unit.
More than 80,000 tonnes of pesticides were reportedly exported in 2018. A figure which is based on data that is difficult to collect, because often covered by “trade secrets”.
Publicity
Read more
With more than 7,600 tonnes of these pesticides, France is the fifth largest exporter, behind the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.
As for importers, three quarters are from developing or emerging countries, including Brazil, Ukraine and Morocco.
But the first customer of this dubious trade is a rich country, namely the United States.
And since these importing countries in turn export food to Europe, the residues of these ultratoxic substances can end up on the plates of European consumers.
►Also read: Can Europe do without pesticides?
This controversial practice continues.
In 2019, Europe authorized the export of nine new banned pesticides for a volume of 8,000 tonnes.
The French legislator has, of course, announced that it wants to put an end to these exports from 2022. But only the Netherlands have expressed their intention to follow this example.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
France
European Union
Agriculture and Fishing