{"id":1121,"date":"2018-05-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/uncategorized\/1121\/eu-court-protecting-people-and-nature-takes-precedence-over-business-interests\/"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:33:52","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:33:52","slug":"eu-court-protecting-people-and-nature-takes-precedence-over-business-interests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/nature-food\/1121\/eu-court-protecting-people-and-nature-takes-precedence-over-business-interests\/","title":{"rendered":"EU court: protecting people and nature takes precedence over business interests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bayer and Syngenta lose court cases against 2013 partial neonicotinoid ban<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe General Court of the European Union has ruled that the European Commission was right to impose restrictions on the use of three bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides \u2013 imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam.
\n<\/h4>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>\n <\/div>\n

\n <\/span>
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The court upheld the 2013 restrictions on the three pesticides, rejecting two separate legal challenges by Bayer and Syngenta, makers of imidacloprid and clothianidin, and thiamethoxam respectively. In its <\/span>press statement<\/span><\/a>, the court asserted that the European Union\u2019s precautionary principle \u201cgives precedence to the requirements relating to the protection of public health, safety and the environment over economic interests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace intervened in the Bayer and Syngenta cases to provide evidence and legal arguments in support of the restrictions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace EU food policy adviser Franziska Achterberg<\/strong> said: <\/span>\u201cThe ruling sets the EU\u2019s priorities straight \u2013 its primary duty is to protect people and nature, not company profit margins. It\u2019s an indictment against corporate bullying that should spur the Commission to act on other dangerous pesticides without fear of being challenged in court.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Research indicates that several other pesticides are a threat to bees and other beneficial insects, including four neonicotinoids currently authorised in the EU \u2013<\/span> <\/span>acetamiprid<\/span>, <\/span>thiacloprid<\/span>, <\/span>sulfoxaflor <\/span>and <\/span>flupyradifurone<\/span><\/a> \u2013 and other insecticides, like<\/span> <\/span>cypermethrin<\/span>, <\/span>deltamethrin <\/span>and <\/span>chlorpyrifos<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Failure to address the wider chemical burden on bees could mean that farmers simply replace banned chemicals with other permitted chemicals that may be just as harmful, warned Greenpeace. To avoid this, the EU must:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00b7 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ban all neonicotinoids, as France is considering [1];<\/p>\n

\u00b7 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>apply the same strict testing standards to all pesticides [2];<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>dramatically reduce the use of synthetic pesticides and support the transition to <\/span>ecological methods of pest control<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pesticide producers are expected to appeal the ruling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] <\/span>Neonicotinoids will be <\/span>banned<\/span><\/a> in France from 1 September 2018 onwards, with certain uses allowed until 1 July 2020. The ban covers the three chemicals already restricted at EU level, as well as <\/span>acetamiprid <\/span>and <\/span>thiacloprid<\/span>. It may also include <\/span>sulfoxaflor <\/span>and <\/span>flupyradifurone<\/span>, depending on the outcome of ongoing discussions.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] <\/span>EFSA has applied a<\/span> <\/span>more comprehensive approach<\/span><\/a> in its latest assessments of the risks chemicals pose to bees. The Commission has proposed using this method for all pesticide risk assessments, but European governments are yet to agree.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Franziska Achterberg \u2013 Greenpeace EU food policy director<\/strong>: +32 (0)498 36 24 03, <\/span>franziska.achterberg@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace EU press desk<\/strong>: +32 (0)2 274 1911, <\/span>pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0For breaking news and comment on EU affairs: www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace does not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bayer and Syngenta lose court cases against 2013 partial neonicotinoid ban The General Court of the European Union has ruled that the European Commission was right to impose restrictions on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-1121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature-food","tag-pesticides","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1121"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2293,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions\/2293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}