Pesticide scandal: Unchecked poisons endanger the environment and health!

Pesticide scandal: Unchecked poisons endanger the environment and health!

Numerous pesticides are circulating in the European Union, for which there are no current reviews of environmental risks. As tagesschau.de reports that almost 90% of the pesticides sold in Germany contained active substances without current risk assessment. It is particularly worrying that in 2024 around 70% of the chemical-synthetic active ingredients whose EU registrations had expired remained in stores.

Behind this problem is a controversial regulation of the EU, which is known as a "technical extension". This allows the resale of pesticides without a new risk assessment. Since 2011, over 1,300 technical extensions for pesticide active ingredients have been granted, which, according to the Munich Environmental Institute, is seen as a systematic abuse that undermines the precautionary principle.

criticism and wave of lawsuits against extensions

Environmental associations have made several complaints against this practice, and a judgment will soon be expected. Critics argue that the exemption is also used for highly dangerous active ingredients whose risks are already known. This is the herbicide "Flufenacet", the approval of which has been continuously extended since 2013, although dismantling products that arise in its application are considered problematic.

The EU has now decided that Flufenacet may no longer be marketed from 2026. Since the extension came into force, over 6,700 tons of this active ingredient have been used in Germany, which raises significant concerns about the environment and health.

Another example is the controversial herbicide "chlortoluron", which is suspected, to be carcinogenic. Over 6,500 tons have also been used since 2016. The Federal Environment Ministry has prompted this situation to criticize long test procedures and to work for faster procedures.

Industry sees needs for extended approvals

The Agrar industrial association manifests itself on the topic of admission extensions and considers them necessary to ensure the availability of crop protection solutions. At the same time, the Federal Environment Agency is concerned about the long approval procedures and a lack of topicality of the approved products.

In the case of Flufenacet, sales of the active ingredient has even increased by 100% since 2014, with an increase of 32% in 2020 alone. Despite the proven high concentrations of its harmful mining material Trifluoracetate (TFA) in groundwater in Germany, the manufacturers take legal steps to prevent restrictions. A court decided that they were not compatible with EU law, which had to be withdrawn.

Environment Minister Lemke and Agriculture Minister Özdemir are now asked to work for an EU-wide ban on Flufenacet and other substitution candidates, since an extension of the approval is considered irresponsible. This contradicts the goals of the farm-to-fork strategy that wants to reduce the risks related to pesticides. At the moment, however, the EU's procedure is characterized by the structural guidelines that focus on the protection of human health and the environment, as well as on Europarl.europa.eu is.