December 3rd 2018, is the 34th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster when a gas tank exploded in a Union Carbide pesticide factory in India, killing thousands of people. To date, half a million people have suffered from health consequences linked to that disaster. Elderly survivors of the Bhopal disaster [...]
by Keith Tyrell, Director, PAN UK On Friday, 10th August, a jury in California came to a momentous judgement: it agreed with a school groundsman’s claim that his rare form of cancer was caused by exposure to the herbicide known as Roundup. The case has huge implications for glyphosate – the [...]
by Dr Stephanie Williamson, Staff Scientist, PAN UK (9th August 2018) Agroecological approaches to farming are receiving increasing attention, both at international policy level and in some countries’ national programmes. PAN UK’s Agroecology web section gives readers a brief description of agroecology. It also provides case studies in coffee, pineapples [...]
by Jorge Solano, Technical Dept., Eurofertil S.A., Costa Rica (This post is part of a summary of presentations prepared by Dr Stephanie Williamson, PAN UK, from the Coffee without HHPs workshop in Costa Rica, April 2017) Key messages: With increasingly degraded, acidic and eroded soils, biological factors, as well as the usual [...]
by Renan Bajurto, Ecological Coffee Cooperative 'La Labor' (COCAFELOL) (This post is part of a summary of presentations prepared by Dr Stephanie Williamson, PAN UK, from the Coffee without HHPs workshop in Costa Rica, April 2017) Key messages: Each farm is a different world- it’s important not only to train farmers but [...]
by Antonio Alberto Tzep Lopez and Diego Chox Dix, Cooperative Nahuala (This post is part of a summary of presentations prepared by Dr Stephanie Williamson, PAN UK, from the Coffee without HHPs workshop in Costa Rica, April 2017) Key messages: Using natural ingredients instead of synthetic agrochemical inputs can give good results [...]
by Juan R. Montero Gamboa & Ing. Gabriel Umana AEA León Cortés, Monsol Sustainable Farm, Los Santos Zone, Costa Rica (This post is part of a summary of presentations prepared by Dr Stephanie Williamson, PAN UK, from the Coffee without HHPs workshop in Costa Rica, April 2017) Shade management at Monsol [...]
by Edwar Vasquez Vallecillo, SMS Sustainable Management Services, Exportadora Atlantic & Elmer Sarantes Cáceres, Cooperative Santiago, Jinotega Dept, Nicaragua (This post is part of a summary of presentations prepared by Dr Stephanie Williamson, PAN UK, from the Coffee without HHPs workshop in Costa Rica, April 2017) Key messages: Good IPM strategies for [...]
by Dr Primo Chavarria, Weed Scientist, Costa Rica (This post is part of a summary of presentations prepared by Dr Stephanie Williamson, PAN UK, from the Coffee without HHPs workshop in Costa Rica, April 2017) Key messages: Avoid excessive or inappropriate use of glyphosate and other herbicides. Spraying several times [...]
PAN Europe has published an updated edition of its report on alternatives to glyphosate as a contribution to the ongoing discussions among some Member States, led by France, on phasing out glyphosate and promoting alternatives. On the fringe of next week’s gathering of the EU agricultural ministers (Tuesday, 16 July), France will [...]
by Prof Michael Eddleston and Dr Leah Utyasheva Highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) not only harm our health and environment and pollute our food and water.1 They also cause over 150,000 suicide deaths globally each year. Out of the 800 000 individuals who die from suicide worldwide each year - one death every [...]
Great result for pollinators as ban on bee-toxic pesticides made permanent Today’s news that the European Commission has extended – and made permanent – the existing ban on three bee-toxic neonicotinoids is warmly welcomed by Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK). After spending more than a decade warning of the [...]
Today (Wednesday 28th February) the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) has published its reviews of the scientific evidence on neonicotinoids and the harm they do to bees. Their reviews of approximately 1000 scientific papers has led them to conclude that the three neonicotinoids - clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam - all [...]
by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy and Campaigns (January 2018) In November 2017, EU member States narrowly voted for a five-year reauthorisation of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weedkiller. While this is far from the fifteen-year license the agrochemical industry was pushing for, the result was a major disappointment [...]
In December 2013, the European Commission restricted the use of three highly bee-toxic neonicotinoid insecticides, namely imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. On the 4th anniversary of the partial ban on these substances, new scientific knowledge confirms that these restrictions do not go far enough. Therefore, more than 80 EU NGOs are gathering [...]
Update - 27th November - Glyphosate license renewed for a further five years PAN UK is disappointed to report that the controversial weed killer, glyphosate, has been given approval for use in the EU for a further five years. What is even more disappointing is that the new approval comes [...]
A review of pesticide use in global cotton production - 10th October 2017 (PLEASE FIND OUR REVISED ISSUE FOR JUNE 2018 HERE) A new report published today by PAN UK, with support from the C&A Foundation, investigates the current rate of pesticide use in cotton, and examines its trends [...]
by Sam Claydon, Communications Officer, PAN UK (19th September 2017) PAN UK is working with partners and colleagues in Ethiopia to teach smallholder cotton farmers how to manage their fields using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods in order to move away from an over-reliance on pesticides. In a lucky turn [...]
This new booklet demonstrates that the phasing out of highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) is possible. Replacing these pesticides with safer and sustainable alternatives can be done, technically and economically. Governments and supply chain actors can help put alternatives into practice. We use case studies to describe alternative methods for managing [...]
by Stephanie Williamson, Staff Scientist, PAN UK I’ve recently returned from an exciting ten days in Costa Rica, working with our partners at the Regional Institute for Research on Toxic Substances (IRET) at the National University. The aim of my visit was to share findings from our project on Phasing [...]
