Regulate pesticides should base on serious science

The German companies have reached higher overall turnover of agrochemicals in 2012, driven by high demands. Sales at the wholesale level rose by 8.5% in 2012 compared with the previous year to €1.4 billion ($1.86 billion at the current rate). The figure was released on the IVA’s (the German Agriculture Industry Association) press conference held in May in Frankfurt. However, the IVA is skeptical about the challenges in the coming year, because of the increasing pressure by political and regulatory authorities, especially in the area of crop protection.

“Pesticides are always included in the strongest regulated substances; their delivery and use are officially precisely watched. Yet, this does not prevent the politicians at European and national level to withdraw from the market active substances without valid base with overdrawn interpretation of the precaution principle and to make the life of farmers difficult”, said the IVA President, Hans Theo Jachmann. He targeted especially the announcement of the European Commission,  to take away from the market three important crop protection active substances for fighting against harmful insects.

The three ingredients from the group of the so called neonicotinoids, which are labeled against process products by clearly lower toxicity for vertebrates, have not to be replaced in short term in the oilseed rape cultivation in Germany. According to a study published in January, which was commissioned by the production companies, the economy of the oilseed rape in Germany – at first cultivated on 1.3 million ha – so dramatically worsened, that the farmers avoided the areas of other plants, such as maize.

“The aim of prohibition is for protecting bees. But EU just ignored that according to the view of the leading bee watchers, the reason for the dwindling of bee population is not the pesticides used in crop, but the entrained diseases and the limited supply of food for the pollinators”, explained Jachmann. “The EU commissioner, Tonio Borg attacks not the means, which are the biggest success, but promised in publicity the biggest applauses. The Minister Aigner followed Tonio Borg on this way and does not trust the advice of some professional authorities and German economists.”

Jachmann demanded that the base for the approval of active substances in Europe has to remain a serious science. “When we look at the herbicide glyphosate, which is pending for re–approval in Europe, there are real pseudo scientific half – truths”, said Jachmann. He advised for deliberateness and referred to the numerous taken positions of the German authorities, such as the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (FIRA), which regularly checks and assesses the new scientific findings – alleged as effective.

Glyphosate is the active substance most world widely applied for weed control. By its strong activity, it is indispensable component of sustainable tillage, by which the land waiver is protected against erosion by a mechanical weed control. Numerous member companies of IVA have products with this active ingredient in their assortment.