MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Controversy over pesticides ahead of EU ministers summit

Greenpeace on Monday stepped up calls for European Union governments to approve long-stalled proposals to control the use of pesticides. The call follows the publishing of a ranking of the main manufacturers of pesticides, based on risks to human beings and the environment.

The Greenpeace list based on the use of chemical pesticides and market share has Germany's Bayer leading followed by Syngenta from Switzerland, German BASF and the US Dow Chemical and Monsanto, all involved in phytosanitary products "Politicians must now tighten up European Union pesticide laws to protect our health and to preserve biodiversity" said Greenpeace chemicals expert Manfred Krautter. He added that "pesticides can cause cancer, alter genes, and damage the reproductive, endocrine or nervous system and must no longer be authorized." Greenpeace is hoping to sway EU agriculture ministers when they meet next week to discuss proposed pesticide legislation. E.U. governments and lawmakers are divided over the proposed restrictions, which were first presented in 2006 and aim to ban some pesticides outright, limit the use of others and tighten rules for authorizing new products. Some governments want tougher rules, while others such as Germany and Ireland have expressed concerns about the impact on farm yields. According to the Greenpeace ranking Monsanto has the highest proportion of harmful pesticides, 60%, but its market share is limited, and thus risks less than those of Bayer or Syngenta. The less "negative" is apparently Dow Chemical although 39% of its products are in the list of toxic products. By products Bayer has the highest percentage of insecticides with the highest danger potential; Monsanto 90% in herbicides and BASF 80% in fungicides. Responding to this report, Dr Friedhelm Schmider, Director General of the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) said that Greenpeace "stunt PR does not contribute to an informed debate on pesticides, which is quite clearly what is needed now. At a time when we're facing a global food crisis, farmers need our products to protect their crops in order to produce high quality, affordable food. This table might win headlines, but adds nothing constructive to a very important issue." Dr Schmider added, "All the products sold by our company members have been approved by the authorities at EU and Member State level, based on stringent safety criteria and after rigorous testing. Our key aim is to continue to develop ever better products for the global market, but this is a long term investment, taking 9-10 years to bring a new solution to the market. Populist actions do nothing for safety and we would ask for a sensible discussion, which is based on reality not on popular perception".