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News Releases EU pesticide proposals would prevent food imports 19 June 2008 Importing food into the EU could be illegal if it is discovered to have been treated with pesticides banned from use by the European Commission. This would put yet more pressure on EU agricultural production to meet the demand for food, and result in a dramatic escalation in food prices. These were some of the key concerns resulting from a Food Chain Forum meeting, held in London recently, to discuss the impact on food availability and price of EU Commission proposals to ban a large number of pesticides, used widely on farms within the EU. According to Forum host and agricultural charity, the British Crop Production Council (BCPC), the proposals have been made without any direct evidence of health effects in consumers. Under the proposals, UK crop yields would drop significantly – cereals by as much as 30 per cent, whilst many fruit and vegetable could not be grown at all – causing increased demand for imported food from outside the EU, the organisation warns. What is more, BCPC says that the proposals would result in banning of many food imports from outside the EU. “It might be assumed that shortfalls in EU food production would be compensated for by imports from other parts of the world,” says BCPC’s Dr Colin Ruscoe. “But in many cases, these same pesticides are used to control crop pests, weeds and diseases in other parts of the world and so imported produce could have minute residues of banned substances – which would not be permitted. This can only lead to further food shortages in the EU and huge prices increases for the public,” In addition, Dr Ruscoe believes the removal of key pesticides from use in the EU would prevent export of these products to the developing world, and therefore deprive their agricultural production of valuable crop protection technology. The proposals are on the agenda for the Agriculture Council meeting on Monday, June 23 and, if pushed through by the Commission later this year, would be implemented towards the end of 2009. “Council should not vote in favour of the proposed revisions before member states, and the Commission itself, have conducted impact assessments on food production and to see if the removal of these pesticides has any real benefit for human health or the environment,” he said. “It is critical to carry out a detailed European level assessment of the impact of moving from the present risk-based approach to the proposed new system. The implications on food prices, quality, security of supply and trade for the EU are immense,” concluded Dr Ruscoe. |
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