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Impact on biodiversity: Federal government again argues over pesticides

2019-10-30T18:19:44.452Z


The Federal Office of Consumer Protection had approved pesticides only subject to conditions. A court held that inadmissible. Now argue agriculture and environment ministry, whether the verdict is acceptable.



In the Federal Government there is new dispute over the approval of pesticides and their effects on insects. Most recently, courts had imposed stricter conditions for the use of the spray, the Ministry of Agriculture under Julia Klöckner (CDU) could appeal, but omitted. This approach encounters criticism from the Ministry of the Environment under the leadership of Svenja Schulze. The SPD politician had demanded to appeal against the decisions. It warned against serious effects on the insect world.

Specifically, it deals with the weed killers Sunfire and Corida and the insecticide Fasthrin 10 EC. The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL), which is subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture, had approved the funds only subject to conditions, because the Federal Environment Agency had registered concerns.

As a result, pesticide manufacturers filed a lawsuit against the BVL. They did not want to accept the restrictions on the use of funds and were right. The administrative court of Braunschweig obliged the authorities at the beginning of September to issue the permits for the funds without conditions. By contrast, the BVL could appeal until Wednesday at the latest, which did not happen. First, the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reported on the dispute in the federal government.

Ministry of Agriculture doubts the chances of success of a vocation

The conditions imposed by the court stipulated that Sunfire should be used at most once in three years to protect the groundwater from degradation products of the agent. These can be badly removed in drinking water treatment.

Corida and fasthrin should be allowed to grow on the highest 90 percent of arable land. The remaining ten percent should serve as a refuge for birds, insects and plants that do not live under the use of funds or can not find food on the land.

The Ministry of Agriculture explained on Wednesday that it shares the legal opinion of the Administrative Court of Braunschweig that there is no legal basis for obliging farmers to give up at least ten percent of their arable land. Klöckner had therefore decided not to object, said a spokeswoman.

more on the subject

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The judges argued that "taking into account unacceptable impacts on biodiversity" was not possible. There is a lack of scientific methods recognized by the EU Food Safety Authority (Efsa) to assess the effects of the funds on the environment.

A spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment said it could not be in line with European law that there was a mandate to respect biodiversity, but that this could not be done because of the lack of detailed rules. Such important questions should not be resolved by first-instance judgments.

Regardless of the current discussion, the Federal Cabinet has adopted a package of regulations designed to enforce more environmental protection in agriculture. This includes a ban on the pesticide glyphosate at the end of 2023. Overall, the use of pest poisons is to be severely restricted (read more here).

However, the project is not yet legally binding. Against the plans there are massive protests from farmers.

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2019-10-30

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