Welcome to the September edition of HEAL Newsletter

This month (October 2007), the European Parliament has an opportunity to vote for a clean up of pesticide use. In a plenary vote, MEPs will be asked to agree or reject a ban on the sale of pesticides with known harmful effects and to decide whether pesticide use should be prohibited in areas where children spend most of their time.

The two key votes are part of a comprehensive revamp the way pesticides are used and approved for sale in the European Union.

In September, cheers went up when the European Parliament’s Committee on the environment, public health and food safety voted in favour of banning pesticides that are hazardous to nervous and immune systems. The move demonstrated that Parliament is taking into account increasing scientific evidence that pesticide exposure, even at low doses, is a threat to people’s health and to the development of children’s brains (see press release).

The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) has also been supporting a ban on the spraying of pesticides in schools, nurseries, and day care centres (see June press release). Very soon, HEAL will be launching a postcard campaign urging MEPs to support pesticide reform that will take the most dangerous pesticides off the market and make children’s spaces pesticide-free.