About: pesticide

Hard or soft law: what’s the status of EU sustainable agriculture goals?

With the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European Commission wants to make the policy more performance oriented. However, non-binding targets and national leeway might hinder the Commission’s quest to keep track of results.

Snubbed European Parliament enters final laps of Farm to Fork race

The EU's new ambitious food policy is ready to face tough parliamentary scrutiny from lawmakers who feel being pushed aside by the European Commission.

Commission upholds highly ambitious targets to transform EU food system

After several delays, the EU's new flagship food policy was finally released on Wednesday (20 May), confirming the aspiration of the EU executive to transform the European way of producing, distributing and consuming food.

European Parliament kicks off debate on pesticide, food waste cuts

MEPs agreed their first stance on the new Commission’s environmental flagship policy, the European Green Deal, aiming at halving food waste by 2030 and setting binding reduction targets for hazardous pesticides.

Glyphosate ban was out of pesticide committee’s scope, co-rapporteur says

Greens did not back the call to ban glyphosate because out of the mandate of pesticide special committee, pledging to battle for it at the right time and moment, Greens co-rapporteur on the final report Bart Staes explained in an interview with EURACTIV.com.

French MEP: Politicians should not play with people’s fears of pesticides

French MEP Angélique Delahaye believes that policymakers must tell citizens what is currently possible and what is not when it comes to pesticides. She also urged lawmakers to working in earnest to fund research and innovation in order to use as few crop protection products as possible.

Greens save glyphosate from EU ban calls, as deal with EPP triumphs

The Greens in the European Parliament have blocked an amendment calling for the ban of Monsanto's controversial weedkiller, as part of a broader political deal with the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) to back a report calling for a rethink of the EU's pesticide approval system.

Four things to watch ahead of final EU vote on pesticides

European Parliament lawmakers will today (16 January) vote on a non-binding report calling for a rethink of the EU’s authorisation procedure for pesticides. 

Ideological divisions mar the pesticide special committee’s last act

A deeply divided European Parliament’s PEST Committee stuck to its broad mandate and approved a diluted final report on pesticides, as political confusion continued to hinder attempts to revise the current protocol for their authorisation.

Pesticides: greater transparency in the approval process?

The system for approving pesticides has to show greater transparency, a special committee of the European Parliament has concluded. An article by EURACTIV France’s media partner, the Journal de l’environnement.

Agroecology can feed Europe pesticide-free in 2050, new study finds

European agriculture can phase out pesticides, reduce its impacts on climate and biodiversity while ensuring food security for Europeans, French researchers Pierre-Marie Aubert and Xavier Poux  told a conference held in Paris on 13 September.   

EFSA boss: Our advice should not be misused for short-term political interests

The selective approach of some campaign groups regarding the credibility of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) results in a “general erosion of trust” in the bodies designed to protect public health, EFSA director Bernhard Url told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

US lawyers confident to win more Glyphosate-related legal cases against Monsanto

In a public hearing at the European Parliament on Wednesday (5 September), two US attorneys said they were confident they would win further legal cases against Monsanto, following a landmark San Francisco trial in August that ordered the US company to pay plaintiff Dwayne Johnson $289 million in damages.

New pesticide may harm bees as much as those to be replaced

A new class of pesticides positioned to replace neonicotinoids may be just as harmful to crop-pollinating bees, researchers cautioned Wednesday (15 August).

Bayer nearing Monsanto deal amid stakeholders concerns

Bayer is nearing the completion of its mega-merger with Monsanto after the American Justice Department gave its green light but stakeholders in Germany and the United States, as well as shareholders, have expressed concerns about the risks linked to the transaction.

EU court upholds curbs on bee-killing pesticide

A top European Union court upheld on Thursday (17 May) the ban on three insecticides blamed for killing off bee populations, dismissing cases brought by chemicals giants Bayer and Syngenta.

EU agencies accused of cherry-picking evidence in glyphosate assessment

Lawyers on the “Monsanto papers” case accused the EU agencies responsible for food safety and chemicals of “wilfully sawing off certain studies” in their risk assessment of glyphosate.