The project on chlorpyrifos was first published 17th of June 2019 in EUObserver covering warnings from scientists because of its effect on humans, spread of the poison in food, the legal battle in EU and the fact that it was becoming banned in more and more countries. At the same time, market analysts predict the market to expand in the next five years. Chlorpyrifos might be banned in the EU from the beginning of next year. On the same day all the material was released on this website with the overview of the team-members. Le Monde, France, uncovered how only one study from Dow looked into the neurotoxicology of chlorpyrifos. Continue Reading →
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One study only paved way for chlorpyrifos
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Chlorpyrifos has been used in EU despite the manufacturer’s study on developmental neurotoxicity is criticized for being invalid. Photo Marcos García Rey. The EU-approval of the pesticide chlorpyrifos was based on one single study concerning possible damages on the developing brain, commissioned by the producer Dow in 1998. Dow has been asked to provide a new study on developmental neurotoxicity, but rejected to comply. A spokesperson for EFSA (European Food Safety Agency) says to Le Monde:
“We can confirm that during the evaluation of chlorpyrifos in 2013 the only one available study on developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) was from 1998 and had several limitations (e.g. lack of findings in the positive control, exposure period from gestational day 6 to lactation day 11 (instead of 21), lower number of individuals for neuropathology (6 instead of 10) and for learning and memory (8 instead of 10), etc.).”
Spain is acting as the Rapporteur Member State for the UE in the renewal procedure which will end in January 2020. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Investigations, Pesticides
National tests show we eat insect poison
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Updated 07.26 on 17/6 2019. European citizens continue to eat and drink the insect poison believed by scientists to cause damage to children’s brains. Data for the year 2016 from all member states sent to the food safety agency EFSA shows that out of 76,200 samples 3,371 contained chlorpyrifos and 839 chlorpyrifos-metyl. In total they accounted for 5,5 percent of all the samples. !function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var e in a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var t=document.getElementById(“datawrapper-chart-“+e)||document.querySelector(“iframe[src*='”+e+”‘]”);t&&(t.style.height=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][e]+”px”)}})}();
The NGO Pesticide Action Network Europe has analyzed the same data and narrowed the analysis to only look at randomly sampled unprocessed plant based food products in EU. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Investigations
Team-members in chlorpyrifos-investigation
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Wojciech Ciesla, Poland, member of Investigate Europe team, writes for Newsweek weekly and Gazeta Wyborcza daily. He has worked in different positions for the Polish dailies, since 2009 he has been running journalistic Reporters Fund, since 2012 he has been an investigative reporter with the magazine Newsweek Polska. Wojciech has won several awards, among them the 2009 Grand Press Award for investigative reporting, in 2017 shortlisted for European Press Award. Kristof Clerix, Belgium, works as a reporter for the Belgian weekly news magazine Knack. He is specialized in security reporting and long term investigative projects. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Investigations
Citizens pay for EU ghost offices – not used and not on the map
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Each member of the European Parliament gets 4 342 euros every month, mainly to fund an office in their own country. But offices for 249 MEPs do not exist or seem nowhere to be found. So far 133 out of the 748 current parliamentarians told what they pay in office rent, an investigation shows. Each MEP receives a so-called General Expenditure Allowance (GEA), costing the EU around €40 million annually. It is intended to provide for national offices, but following research by journalists at ‘The MEPs Project,’ it seems the funds are potentially being misused. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Investigations, MEP, #Officespotting, European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament, MEPs, The MEPs Project
Drug resistance: How superbug-infected pigs from Denmark get into Britain unchecked
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Pigs infected with the superbug MRSA can be freely imported into the UK due to regulatory loopholes, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveal. An investigation has established that there is no mandatory screening for live breeding pigs leaving Denmark – where MRSA is rife throughout the country’s herd – and entering the UK. Experts are warning that if no action is taken, the UK’s pig herd could rapidly become infected. Such an epidemic could have a serious impact on human health, according to leading Danish microbiologist and MRSA expert, Professor Hans Jørn Kolmos. Thousands of people have contracted the livestock-associated strain of MRSA in Denmark and six have died from it in the last five years. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Agribusiness, Investigations, MRSA
Poor results: Giving up on resistant bacteria in Danish pigs
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In Denmark, there are more than twice as many pigs as humans, and twice as many antibiotics given to the animals as well. A perfect breeding ground for resistant bacteria – to which politics have failed to respond.
In November 2013, a 63-year-old man with diabetes and end-stage kidney got fever because of inflammation. Samples of blood grew the resistant pig-bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, CC398. Three weeks later the man died. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Agribusiness, Investigations, MRSA
Here is where pigs infected with MRSA live
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If you are a pig farmer and are looking for breeding animals that are free from MRSA, you will find here the first list ever showing farms whose pigs have officially been tested by the authorities and found to be infected. You will have to take extra precautions if you want to deal with these farms. You can demand that they produce a recent MRSA attest so you can know if their pigs are still infected. If you are looking for a job in the farm sector, the list can be used to find establishments which have or have had problems with bacteria in the workplace. For producers, neighbors and the local population in the vicinity of pig farmers, the list also provides clear and honest information about the presence of infection, as the Veterinary and Food Administration (Fødevarestyrelsen) investigated it in 2011 and 2014. See the list over 205 pig farms where there was found MRSACC398-bacteria in the period 2011-2014
In the latest investigation from 2014 there are 181 larger pig production units, which either produce piglets for sale or pigs to be slaughtered. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Agribusiness, MRSA
Her lever de MRSA-inficerede svin
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Er du svineproducent og søger MRSA-frie avlsdyr, så kommer her den første liste nogensinde over virksomheder, hvis svin officielt har været testet af myndighederne og fundet smittebærende. Du skal derfor udvise ekstra omhu, hvis du vil handle med disse virksomheder. Du kan forlange, at de fremlægger en aktuel MRSA-attest, så du kan vide, om deres svin stadig er smittebærere.
Søger du arbejde i landbruget, kan listen bruges til at finde virksomheder, der har eller har haft problemer med det bakterielle arbejdsmiljø. For leverandører, naboer og lokalbefolkningen omkring svinevirksomhederne på listen rummer den også åben og ærlig besked om smitteforholdene, sådan som Fødestyrelsen undersøgte dem i 2011 og 2014. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Agribusiness, MRSA
Her lever de rene svin
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Er du svineproducent og søger MRSA-frie avlsdyr, så kommer her den første liste nogensinde over virksomheder, hvis svin officielt er testet af myndighederne og fundet rene. Søger man arbejde i landbruget, kan listen bruges til at finde virksomheder med styr på det bakterielle arbejdsmiljø. For leverandører, naboer og lokalbefolkningen omkring svinevirksomhederne på listen rummer den også åben og ærlig besked om smitteforholdene, sådan som Fødestyrelsen undersøgte dem i 2014. Se listen over de 82 svinefarme
Der er tale om 82 større svinefabrikker, der enten producerer smågrise til videresalg eller slagtesvin. Sammen med 196 andre blev deres dyr grundigt testet i 2014 for den smittefarlige stafylokok, der er kendt unden betegnelsen MRSACC398. Continue Reading →