Stopping banned pesticides in the EU to be exported to 3rd countries would have little economic impact, NGOs report says

The EU is the world’s leading exporter of pesticides, but stopping the export of agrochemical banned in Europe will have limited effect on bloc’s economy: according to a coalition of NGOs in a report published on Thursday (18 April).

“Contrary to what the pesticide lobby claims, the export ban would have only a very negligible impact on employment in the European agrochemical industry”, NGOs such as the Pesticide Action Network (Pan) Europe and Public Eye said in a press release. They also noted “a strong and positive impact on the health of populations and the environment in importing countries”.

In 2022, 81,615 tonnes of 41 pesticides banned in the EU were exported to third countries, according to the report.

These included Atrazine, a herbicide recognised as an endocrine disruptor for animals; neonicotinoids, “bee-killing” insecticides; and dichloropropene, an antiparasitic carcinogenic for humans.

In 2020, the idea to put an end to this practice floated in the European Commission. In 2023, the environment committee of the European Parliament proposed to prohibit the export of pesticides not approved in EU.

Low economic impact

The agrochemical industry has always warned about the economic losses and job losses that such a ban could cause.

This argument was hammered home between 2018 and 2019 by the French company Phyteis, which estimated that 2,700 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs would be threatened in France. Accused by French associations of “inflating” its results, the company was unable to justify itself, earning a formal notice from the Senate for failing “in its duty of probity”.

The NGOs report published on 18 April shows more conservative estimates on the labor impact of the export ban of agrochemicals not approved in the EU.

According to the NGOs data, only a very small proportion of the 15,700 jobs in the european production of agricultural pesticides in 2018, would be threatened: around 1.9% in Germany and 1.2% in Belgium.

“Based on data on pesticide exports from the seven main European exporting countries, we have estimated that the total number of jobs potentially threatened by a hypothetical ban on EU exports would only be around 173 jobs in 2022”, says Christophe Alliot, from the consultancy Le Basic, the main author of the report.

According to the work of the NGOs, products banned in the EU accounted for no more than 2% of the volume of pesticides exported in 2019, and barely 1% of sales. This is particularly true for the three main pesticide exporters – France, Germany and Spain.

“Contrary to what the pesticide lobby claims, an export ban would have a very negligible impact on employment in the European agrochemical industry”, the report stated.

New European legislation

While industry representatives have yet to react to the report, they generally point to the freedom of importing countries and the transparency guaranteed by documents such as the Rotterdam Convention.

This document requires the exporting country to inform the buyer of all the risks associated with the product, and to obtain explicit, fully informed consent.

In addition, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) must be notified of each trade.

European manufacturers regularly point out that in the event of a ban, importing countries will in any case find other sellers in non-European countries.

For the NGOs, “not only do these dangerous pesticides seriously harm people and ecosystems outside the EU, but they also end up in Europe as residues in food imports”.

At present, only Belgium and, partially, France committed themselves to banning this practice. Germany is expected to follow shortly.

The NGOs call on the European Union to take matters into its own hands by proposing “European legislation to ensure greater consistency”, they conclude.

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[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/Alice Taylor]

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