Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Mercosur trade deal will fuel 'poison pesticides' back into EU

  • Some 56,000 people have been poisoned by pesticides in Brazil in the past decade alone (Photo: jetsandzeppelins)

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement, as it currently stands, will exacerbate the 'boomerang effect' of pesticides banned in the EU whose residues re-enter the bloc as food imports, a study on Tuesday (11 May) has found.

The EU exported 7,000 tonnes of pesticides, prohibited inside Europe due to environmental and health concerns, to the Mercosur bloc of South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) countries in 2018 and 2019.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

But residues of these dangerous substances have been found in agricultural products the EU imports from the Mercosur, such as fruits or vegetables.

EU law does not prohibit the export of pesticides banned in the EU to third countries, allowing companies to make profits by selling these chemicals to non-EU countries - what has previously triggered calls to ban the export of toxic pesticides to third countries.

Food coming from outside the EU, on average, has more than twice the amount of pesticide residues than products produced within the bloc.

In 2018, the EU exported a total of more than half a billion euros' worth of pesticides to Mercosur, mostly to Brazil (€446m worth).

Conversely, Mercosur exported dozens of agricultural products to the EU, worth over €21bn, during the same year - including soybeans, grains, fruits, and coffee.

However, the study reveals that 30 percent of the pesticides authorised for crops in Brazil (the leading exporter from Mercosur) and 20 percent of those approved in Paraguay are prohibited in the EU.

Argentina, for example, exported around €71m worth of pears and apples to the EU in 2018. But 14 pesticides, prohibited in the bloc, are used for farming these fruits in Argentina.

In 2018, seven percent of the total 781 food samples from Mercosur countries collected by the European Food Standards Agency were found to have pesticide residues above the EU's limits.

During the period 2019-2020, Brazil approved a record number of pesticides - including 37 prohibited in the EU.

German MEP Helmut Scholz, from The Left group in the European Parliament, said that the "alarming" findings of this study call for a review of the implications of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

"Once in force, the EU-Mercosur agreement will reinforce inequalities between and within the two regional blocks - instead of enabling fair trade and sustainable development," he said.

"European chemical corporations dumping toxic pesticides into Mercosur countries, including many banned in the EU, will see their profits and impunity soar, as they exploit weaker or missing regulations and laws," he added.

The EU-Mercosur agreement is currently subjected to a legal revision, a preliminary step before it is translated in all EU and Mercosur official languages and submitted to the European Parliament and member states for its ratification. In the European Council, unanimity is required.

But some EU countries, such as France and Austria, have raised concerns about the intensive agro-industrial model of Mercosur countries.

French and Swiss bans

Meanwhile, the author of the study and professor at the University of São Paulo, Larissa Mies Bombardi, accused the EU of adopting "double standards" on the use and export of pesticides, saying people of Mercosur member countries are treated as "second-class citizens", given the permissible exposure to substances banned in the EU.

Over the last decade, some 56,000 people have been poisoned by pesticides used in Brazil - an average of 15 cases per day. However, the actual number is estimated to be about 50 times higher since most intoxications go under-reported.

In 2022, France will be the first country in the EU to apply a ban on the export and transport of pesticides prohibited in the EU. The ban will also apply to the import of foods produced with such pesticides.

Switzerland has a similar ban in place since January 2021.

In its Farm to Fork strategy, the European Commission aims to cut the use of chemical pesticides by 50-percent by 2030.

EU wants to halve use of pesticides by 2030

The European Commission wants to cut chemical pesticides by 50 percent in the next decade - but the definitive target will be subject to the results of a risk assessment. Green NGOs have urged their full phase-out by 2035.

Opinion

The return of Lula means now is the time for EU-Mercosur deal

The EU must realise the need for a trade agreement with Mercosur. The timing has never been better. The recent election of the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, marks a fresh start to move forward on the Mercosur Agreement.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us