BRUSSELS - The widespread use of pesticides is a risk to the environment and health.
This was confirmed by the European Environment Agency, the EEA.
In the EU, one or more pesticides have been detected beyond safe limits for human health in 22% of all monitoring sites in rivers and lakes across Europe, and 83% of agricultural soils contain residues.
From 2011 to 2020, sales of pesticides in EU-27 member states remained relatively stable at around 350,000 tonnes per year, the EEA points out, citing the results of EU-funded biomonitoring HbmEu on the presence of at least two pesticides in the bodies of 84% of survey participants
.
"We have three problems - declares Dario Piselli of the EEA - the persistence in the environment of substances that have been banned for years, such as atrazine, the frequent recourse by States to the use of banned pesticides in derogation and the new substances", the whose effects can only be recognized after many years.
The data will be presented today in the European Parliament, in a seminar organized by Sarah Wiener, the rapporteur on the regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides.
Too many pesticides in food, for EFSA Italy at 0.4%
Annual report of the Authority, in 2021 EU average of 1.3%
In 2021 pesticide residues in non-standard foods were 0.4% of the sample analyzed in Italy and 1.3% in the EU.
This is what emerges from the interactive map created by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) based on the latest data on the presence of pesticides in food, out of a total of 87,863 samples collected in the EU.
In Italy, out of 1,492 samples analysed, the non-compliance rate is 0.4%.
In Spain, with 800 samples, it rises to 1.38%.
In France it is 0.24% with 2,098 samples.
In Germany, 2,060 foods were examined with 1.12% of samples exceeding the limits