A monthly update for the health and environment community in Europe Making waves on pesticides in France and UK

2010 will be a decisive year for our Sick of Pesticides Campaign, which aims to highlight the adverse health effects of pesticides and provide educational, advocacy and legal tools for local groups, schools and farmers to become involved in policy change.

The new EU pesticides package (for authorisation and use of pesticides) has great potential for better health protection, yet it really depends on how governments will develop and follow-through on national pesticide reduction action plans. First steps will be setting up plans by 2012, and making sure that they include quantitative objectives, targets, measures and timetables to reduce risks and impacts of pesticide use, and to ensure public participation. We are urging all Member States to report on how they are minimizing or completely banning pesticide use in areas used by the public or vulnerable groups.

The UK is one of the countries soon to launch its public consultation on the National Action Plan. The results of our UK School Survey as part of HEAL’s Sick of Pesticides Campaign underline the need to phase out the use of pesticides in schools as a priority issue. Responses to the HEAL and PAN UK survey from local authorities are quite alarming: Children may be exposed to at least four potentially cancer causing pesticides in their schools (the final report is available here. We encourage individuals and organisations to use the survey to find out which pesticides are being used in their local schools (for more information please contact Anne Stauffer).

The survey also highlights the use of hazardous biocides and the need for more control. The EU Biocides Law is now being revised with important discussions in the European Parliament (and the Council of Environment Ministers). HEAL is working together with partners PAN Europe, Women in Europe for a Common Future and others to ensure that there are strict exclusion criteria for hazardous biocides, that the specific needs of vulnerable groups are recognised and that biocidal products with nano-silver are subject to a health-check before being allowed onto the market (read more here).

As part of our French Sick of Pesticides Activities, HEAL together with our member organisation “Mouvement pour le droit et le respect des generations futures“ (MDRGF) launched what is probably Europe’s first network for people with health problems related to pesticide exposure, Victimes des Pesticides. At a recent meeting, French pesticide victims joined forces for better legal recognition and compensation and to highlight the need for better protection against hazardous pesticides ( Read more here)

This year, HEAL will be extending the Sick of Pesticides Campaign to three further countries – the Netherlands, Belgium and Hungary – to bring health concerns and expertise to the National Action Plans, and to advocate for ambitious reduction targets and pesticide-free zones. We want to ensure that patient and health groups are included in all discussions and decisions on pesticide reduction measures. A variety of activities are planned through a coalition of our members and groups. Please let us know if you’re interested in working together with us.

This year’s “Week without Pesticides” from 20 – 30 March offers the perfect opportunity to become involved in the call to reduce pesticide use for better health protection.