"Sustainable Agriculture and Pesticides" conference

A month from the close of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and at the heart of European negotiations on the “Pesticides Package”, European commissioners and members of the European Parliament, researchers, evaluation agencies, agricultural associations, and many others, met to pool their expertise and experience. The intention was to exchange views on two directives. The purpose of the first (91/414, in force since 1 September) is to revise the regulations governing the placing of products on the market, and that of the second (the framework directive on the sustainable use of pesticides), currently under discussion, to lay down quantified targets for the reduction of pesticide risk and usage.

Paola Testori-Coggi, Deputy Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Affairs, recalled the necessity of “bringing all available industrial and agronomic research to bear in order to arrive at less toxic technical solutions that are compatible with further gains in productivity”.
Although the impact of pesticides on health and the environment is difficult to quantify, the harm caused by certain phytopharmaceuticals is now well known. In Europe, substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic (causing anomalies in the embryo) or which act as endocrine disrupters (hormones) are now banned. Today, 232 materials are authorised, compared with a thousand in 1998. The European Parliament wishes to increase further the stringency of the criteria governing the authorisation to market products. Conversely, where products of limited toxicity are concerned, the administrative procedures will be simplified.

The problem for political decision-makers lies in seeking a balance between environmental responsibility, protection of public health and food security, this being the “greatest challenge facing the planet”, emphasised Christa Klass, Rapporteur for the European Parliament on the framework directive on the sustainable use of pesticides. The message is therefore clear, and accepted by the majority: we cannot run the risk of compromising harvests by banning the use of pesticides. They are essential in protecting plants from certain diseases, “but they must be used in an intelligent and sustainable manner” she added.

Michel Barnier, the French Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries warned that the specific characteristics of each Member State “must be taken into account in suitable national plans”, in accordance with European recommendations. An example of this, in France, is the “Ecophyto 2018” plan, which provides, in the context of France’s Grenelle Environment Conference, for a reduction by half in the use of pesticides over the next ten years.

The aim of the framework directive on the sustainable use of pesticides is to provide the European Union with a common policy based on “integrated protection”. This strategy, which sets out to favour economic use of pesticides and the use of alternative products, must be in place by 2014. According to the experts, this is a very short timeframe. “This will change production systems radically” warns Pierre Stengel, Research Director at France’s INRA. “We will need to provide for initial and continuous training for farmers at national and regional levels, along with independent, competent advisers”.

 

© Brice Amouroux - Min.Agri.Fr

• Updated: 26.12.2008

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