EU agrees to ban 22 dangerous substances from pesticides

The EU states and parliament agreed a compromise deal under which 22 toxic substances will be banned from use in pesticides, negotiators announced.

The deal must be formally endorsed by the parliament in Strasbourg and the 27 member states.

"We have made a great step forward for the protection of consumers' health and of the environment," said German Green MEP Hiltrud Breyer, on the margins of a parliamentary session.

The chemcial blacklist includes eight substances used in the manufacture of herbicides, 11 used in fungicides and three in insecticides, many of them produced by German chemical giants Bayer and BASF -- including Ioxynil, Amitrol and Iprodion.

The substances will be banned due to their toxic or carcinogenic effects.

The compromise deal, under which a longer list of substances to be banned was dropped, came after the phytosanitary industry complained that 40 percent of its ingredients would be struck off.

"We have been submitted to great pressure from industry which has exaggerated the situation and created panic in the farming community," said Breyer.

The parliament will formally consider the measures at a sitting next month.