The EU is the world's largest exporter of pesticides, but stopping the export of agrochemical products banned in Europe will have a limited effect on the bloc's economy, according to a coalition of NGOs in a report cited by Euractiv.

Limited Impact

"Contrary to what the pesticide lobby claims, the export ban would only have a very negligible impact on employment in the European agrochemical industry," said NGOs such as Pesticide Action Network (Pan) Europe and Public Eye 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 tons of 41 pesticides banned in the EU were exported to third countries, according to the report.

These include atrazine, an herbicide recognized as an endocrine disruptor for animals; neonicotinoids, insecticides that "kill bees"; and dichloropropene, a carcinogenic pesticide for humans.

In 2020, the idea of ​​ending this practice was floated in the European Commission. In 2023, the European Parliament's environment committee proposed banning the export of pesticides not approved in the EU.

Jobs at Risk

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

This argument was reproached 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 could not justify itself, receiving a formal notice from the Senate for not fulfilling its "duty of probity."

The NGOs' report published on April 18 shows more conservative estimates regarding the impact on employment of banning the export of unapproved agrochemical products in the EU.

According to NGO data, only a very small proportion of the 15,700 jobs in European agricultural pesticide production in 2018 would be threatened: approximately 1.9% in Germany and 1.2% in Belgium.

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

According to NGO activities, products banned in the EU represented no more than 2% of the volume of pesticides exported in 2019 and barely 1% of sales. This is especially 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 states.

New European Legislation

Although industry representatives have not yet responded to the report, they generally emphasize 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 about all risks associated with the product and to obtain explicit and fully informed consent.

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

European producers regularly emphasize that in the event of a ban, importing countries will still find other sellers in non-European countries.

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

Currently, only Belgium and partially France have committed to banning this practice. Germany is expected to follow soon.

NGOs call on the European Union to take the matter into its own hands, proposing "European legislation to ensure greater coherence," they conclude. (Photo: Freepik)