While several pesticides are banned in the EU because they are considered too dangerous for human health and the environment, their production and export to non-EU countries remains allowed.

• More than 122,000 tonnes of banned pesticides were exported in 2022.
• More than 50 substances were exported from the EU in 2022, including 1,3-Dichloropropene, cyanamide, chlorpyrifos, mancozeb, and several neonicotinoids.
• The overwhelming majority of these exports of banned pesticides are destined for low- and middle-income countries.
• This toxic trade exposes populations in these countries to devastating health and environmental risks and violates human rights.
• These pesticides return to the European market through a “boomerang effect” in the form of toxic residues, via imports of agricultural products.
• In 2022, 53 pesticides banned in the EU were detected in food imports from third countries.

The ‘End Toxic Pesticide Trade Coalition’ demands in an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen to keep its 2020 promise. Indeed, the European Commission had committed in 2020 that the EU will “lead by example, and, in line with international commitments, ensure that hazardous chemicals banned in the European Union are not produced for export, including by amending relevant legislation if and as needed.” The Commission had announced that it would come up with a legislative proposal by 2023. But nothing has been done since.

That is why a broad coalition of NGOs and trade unions has launched a Joint Statement co-signed by 600 organisations worldwide calling on the European Commission to :

• ban the production and export of pesticides banned in the EU, in order to protect health and the environment
• ban the import of food products containing residues of these toxic pesticides