Academies warn of ‘loopholes’ in EU pesticide regulations

Advice body says EU member states and companies are still using and developing harmful chemicals

A group representing European science academies has expressed concern that EU member states and companies are taking advantage of “loopholes” to get around prohibitions on the use of pesticides, which it suggests could be causing environmental harm.

The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council said on 28 February that it supported the 2018 introduction of EU laws banning outdoor use of certain pesticides called neonicotinoids because they have “indiscriminate effects on pollinators and other beneficial insects as much as on the targeted pests, thereby posing a serious threat to biodiversity and longer-term food security”.