Agribusiness

Swedish access laws more secretive than EU-regulations

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The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has decided to take a closer look at Sweden’s compliance with UN-rules on information in environmental matters. The decision follows rejection on requested access to document by the Swedish Chemicals Agency and two Swedish courts. Access could
harm Sweden’s participation in international cooperation, the argument went. But
this might run counter to the UN Aarhus Convention, signed by Sweden, 44 other
countries and the EU. In the case of emissions to the environment release of
information should be the default option, the convention states.

Investigations

Commission proposes ban on pesticides while central documents are kept secret

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Time is running up for chlorpyrifos – the pesticide designed to kill insects, and a cause of brain damage to human fetuses and newly born children. The EU-commission and the food safety Authority (EFSA) have both publicly stated the present approval should not be renewed. Yet a final decision scheduled for December cannot be taken for granted. In 2 August EFSA-experts declared that no detectable residues of chlorpyrifos in food can be accepted. Sometime in September the Commission informed EU-member states it will propose a total ban on chlorpyrifos and related substance chlorpyrifos-methyl at the end of the year.

Agribusiness

EU-experts agree pesticide may damage unborn children

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There are no safe levels for exposure to the pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, EU-experts have found. An EU-ban of the criticised pesticides comes closer. Experts
from EU-member states and staff members at EFSA (European Food Safety Agency)
have published an unusual statement on two controversial pesticides, believed
to cause brain damage on children whose mothers have been exposed during
pregnancy. The pesticides
do not meet the criteria for a renewed approval, EFSA announced
2 August in a statement. The present approvals expire in January 2020.

Investigations

UN Rapporteur on pesticide-states: “They ignore the rights of the child”

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“This is a clear example of how States around the world aren’t considering the rights of the child when they make decisions on chemicals,” says UN Rapporteur. A pesticide known to cause brain damages in children and fetus is up for re-approval in the EU.  If EU-states allow this to continue, it is a breach of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, UN Special Rapporteur on toxic waste says. “When you look at chlorpyrifos as a case study, it becomes crystal clear that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is being ignored by numerous EU member states when it comes to toxic pollution and contamination”, says Mr. Baskut Tuncak, UN Special Rapporteur on Toxic Waste. The Special Rapporteur refers to recent revelations by Danwatch and Investigative Reporting Denmark along with 7 other media showing how fruits and vegetables sold all over Europe are filled with a pesticide called, chlorpyrifos.

Investigations

Authorities in Poland don’t check farmers spread of chlorpyrifos

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In Poland increased chlorpyriphos was detected for quite a long time due to a mistake made by the Ministry of Agricultare. In 2016, a regulation that amended the standards for the pesticide, wasn’t introduced until June, when all the farmers had already sprayed fruits and vegetables. The Ministry started to inform about the changing standards too late. According to the story in Newsweek, farmers do not follow legal acts on an ongoing basis. They are guided by common sense: the protection program and the content written on the labels of pesticides.

Investigations

Covering chlorpyrifos

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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.

Investigations

On your dinner plate and in your body: the most dangerous pesticide you’ve never heard of

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updated 17/6 klokken 07.26

Harvest of melons in the province of Murcia in Spain. Photo Marcos García Rey

Scientists say there is no acceptable dose to avoid brain damage. Its use is banned in several European countries. Yet its residues are found in fruit baskets, on dinner plates, and in human urine samples from all over Europe. Now producers are pushing for a renewed EU-approval – perhaps in vain.

Investigations

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.

Investigations

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.

Investigations

Team-members in the environmental investigations

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Eva Achinger is a reporter working for the public German broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (ARD). In 2016 she joined the investigative unit BR Recherche/BR Data. Her investigations mainly deal with environment, agriculture, animal welfare and human rights. Lorenzo Bagnoli is investigative reporter at IRPI – Investigative reporting project Italy. He is focused on transnational organized crime.