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Pesticide Action Network UK

PAN UK

Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) is the only UK charity focused on tackling the problems caused by pesticides and promoting safe and sustainable alternatives to pesticides in agriculture, urban areas, homes and gardens.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Changes to greening rules and clarifications of certain other direct payments' rules

11 Jan 2017

Pesticides should have no place in Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs), there are already far too many pesticides used in EU agriculture and this use is driving species loss, water pollution and negative human health problems, particularly for farmers that use pesticides on a regular basis. If we are serious about halting biodiversity loss then perhaps a useful starting point is to ensure they are not used in EFAs. Farmers can apply pesticides to 95% of their land already, saving 5% as a haven from pesticides in order to assist in biodiversity and ecological conservation is not asking too much, in fact it is not asking enough! So using pesticides in an EFA would mean it is no longer and area of ecological focus, just simply another area contaminated with pesticides! Or as the European Economic and Social Committee said: “the use of pesticides in ecological focus areas is diametrically opposed to the intention of greening agricultural policy: pesticides do not help to increase biodiversity but damage it”
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