On 23 June, the Agriculture Council agreed a common position on new rules for placing pesticides (aka plant protection products) on the market in the EU. View the filmed announcement in Luxembourg. The Council’s political agreement bans the marketing and use of substances proven to be carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic for reproduction, amid claims from… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
June 23, 2008
ADAS has delivered a stark warning about the possible consequences of changes in pesticide regulations now being discussed by the European Union. James Clarke of ADAS has concluded that the potential impact on prices of the Commission proposals would be that farmers would need a 25 per cent increase in prices to make up for… » read more
Posted by Wyn Grant
June 17, 2008
The BCPC in the UK hosted a food chain forum in June, attended by growers, advisors, retainers, consumer organisations and government representatives. They came together to discuss the impact of EU’s proposed legislation on UK food production, availability and price. Not an uncommon theme right now in the media.The event was described as a “wake-up… » read more
Posted by ECPA
The Independent recently published an article on organic farming by science writer and doctor, Rob Johnston. A brave man frankly; he was challenging the benefits of organic farming. However within a week I was please to see the Soil Association’s, Lord Melchett, coming back with his take on the benefits. I’ve read both articles and… » read more
Posted by Helen Dunnett
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Environment, European Regulation, Farming, Food and Health, NGOs |
June 12, 2008
The changes to directive 91/414 and other legislative proposals currently in the EU co-decision process could pose a major threat to the viability of EU agriculture according to an analysis by the UK’s Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD). The document presents an analysis of the potential impact of the Commission proposal on ‘cut-off criteria’ and substitution… » read more
Posted by Wyn Grant
Last week in Brussels, Dr. Harald von Witzke of Humboldt University presented a Working Paper entitled “Global agricultural market trends and their impacts on European Union agriculture” which he has co-authored. His presentation, in which he summarises the arguments and presents some of the numbers, may be viewed below. In the coming days, we will… » read more
Posted by ECPA
The European Parliament recently voiced its concerns regarding rising food prices in the EU and developing countries at its plenary discussion in April 2008. I raised the point that we should have a closer look at our European legislation and whether it allows for an increase of agricultural productivity. We have numerous legislation restricting the… » read more
Posted by ECPA
May 19, 2008
Blogger, Wyn Grant, posted an interesting entry today on his blog Good Agricultural Practice. He is following the EU legislation reform on pesticides and is on the stakeholders’ committee involved in the implementation strategy of the Pesticides Safety Directorate in the UK. He’s fully aware of the dangers of pesticides, saying: “Pesticides are toxic and… » read more
Posted by ECPA
April 28, 2008
Here are some more clips from interviews recorded at the scientific workshop in Ljubljana, Slovenia, last week (see other blog entries below). Dr Ian Denholm, Rothamsted Research, UK, speaks about the need for radical steps to meet the growing demand for food in Europe, and Lise Nistrup from Aarhus Universitet, Denmark, outlines the effects of… » read more
Posted by ECPA
April 26, 2008
While in Ljubljana at the Workshop on the Impact of the proposed Revision of Directive 91/414 on the sustainability of the European Resistance Management Tool Box (see Conclusions from workshop on impact of pesticides legislation entry below), I had the chance to speak to Dirk Müller-Thederan of the German daily Die Welt, who gave me… » read more
Posted by ECPA
The content of this blog is taken from pesticideinformation.eu, which offers a number of resources to learn more about pesticides and to better understand the arguments for and against them.
