CHEMICAL PESTICIDE USE is widespread, not only in agriculture ('plant protection products') but also in a variety of industries, including health protection and textile, furniture and cosmetics production (biocides)
THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW WHICH POISON'S ARE PRESENT IN THE PRODUCTS AND FOODSTUFFS THEY USE IS NOT HONOURED IN PRACTICE
WARNINGS OF POSSIBLE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL PESTICIDES ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH ARE WHOLLY INADEQUATE
PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE PESTICIDE-FREE ALTERNATIVES HAS BEEN UNDERMINED
FLAWED SAFEGUARDS:
APPROVALS & RENEWALS are granted on the basis of unpublished industry-funded 'safety' studies.
INDEPENDENT STUDIES published in peer-reviewed journals are not taken into account.
EXTENSIONS OF APPROVALS for a year or more are often granted automatically.
PROVISIONAL APPROVALS may be granted for pesticides which are still under assessment.
CANDIDATES FOR SUBSTITUTION are pesticides which are known to be highly dangerous to health, but which are still allowed until an alternative is manufactured.
'SAFETY LEVELS' of dangerous chemical pesticide residues in foods (Maximum Residual Levels - MRLs) are purely theoretical and are based on single substances, not the combinations which are most often present.
TESTING FOR 'SAFETY' involves the unacceptable torture of hundreds of different animals.
BANS of dangerous pesticides take years to establish and are not enforced immediately.
DEROGATIONS can be used to circumvent bans.
RISKS TO BEES, OTHER POLLINATORS AND BIRDS are not included in the numerous primary hazard warnings which are part of pesticide labelling in the EU.
SUPPOSED BENEFITS of pesticide products are heavily promoted by manufacturers and law-givers, also many governments, regional and local authorities, health authorities, agronomists as well as sellers of the end products.
PESTICIDE USERS are not properly informed or educated about the dangers inherent in pesticides.
MAJOR AGRI-CHEMICAL COMPANIES ruthlessly oppose any attempts to reduce pesticide use in the world.
ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMICAL PESTICIDES in agriculture are not promoted to farmers or gardeners on any realistic level.
PESTICIDE LEVELS IN HUMANS and their possible association with ill-health have not been systematically investigated.
Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon) June 2023.
