6 December 2019, Brussels –  VICTORY! Representatives from the European Member States in the EU Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) today voted to ban the neurotoxic pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl from the EU market, a historic move that has been applauded by health and environment groups. 

Update of 2 August 2019: Great news! the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) acknowledges chlorpyrifos harms human health and announces it does not meet criteria for renewal*. It's an important step to get rid of this toxic pesticide once and for all. Let us keep up the mobilization and demand from the European Commission and national governments a total ban as soon as possible! 

Update of 25 June 2019:

Victory is at reach! Earlier this month, a series of investigative articles highlighted that the previous European market approval process of chlorpyrifos ignored hundreds of independent studies that showed evidence of how this chemical can harm our brains. The investigation also found that the EU approval relied on a single biased industry study for assessing neurotoxic effects.

As a response, the European Commission has officially indicated it was now considering a non-renewal of this toxic pesticide.

A new briefing published on by our partners, HEAL and PAN Europe, shows that chlorpyrifos is still one of the top pesticides found as residues in our fruit: more than 1 out of 3 grapefruits and lemons, 1 out of 4 oranges and mandarins, and 1 out of 20 apples, peaches and pears are contaminated with chlorpyrifos residues.

Let’s keep mobilised and reach out to your friends, families and colleagues! Together we can win this battle and get chlorpyrifos banned from our plates once for all.

However, this extension may be revoked if, during the year, a decision is taken not to renew it. Let's then remain mobilized to get rid of this pesticide and defeat the lobbying of the pesticide megacorps. We will keep you informed of next steps. 

The chemical chlorpyrifos has serious negative effects on our health -- especially for children.

Exposure to it, even in small doses, can impact children’s brain development and hormonal systems. Scientists have linked it to developmental delays in children and working memory loss.

So why is it all over our fruits and vegetables?

Chlorpyrifos is still widely used as a pesticide throughout Europe. In fact, it’s one of the pesticides most commonly detected in fruits and vegetables across the continent. It’s been found in soil and, in Spain, even water.

Now the governments of the European Union are deciding whether to relicense this dangerous chemical. We’re joining an all-star coalition with the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Générations Futures, Ecologistas en Acción and the European and German branch of the Pesticides Action Network to launch an emergency campaign to ban chlorpyrifos. Will you help stop this terrible pesticide?

Tell the EU to ban chlorpyrifos and work towards a toxic-free future for our kids and our environment.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are supposed to be good for us.

But too much of our food now sold in Europe is laced with chlorpyrifos, which can cause brain damage and developmental delays in children – even in very small amounts.

Scientists say these neurological effects "appear to be permanent, irreversible, and lifelong."

Chlorpyrifos’ current EU license expires in January 2019. Right now, European authorities are reviewing the industry's renewal request for the pesticide. But key research is missing in this reviewing process -- especially the pesticide's link to brain damage.

This is our chance to stop a new license from being issued -- but we need your support today to do it.

We’re up against some serious lobbying power from the pesticide megacorps. Dow, the main corporation behind the renewal request, reportedly spent over 3 million euros to lobby European politicians on pesticide-related issues in 2017 alone.

That same year, Dow's influence convinced the Trump administration to reverse a ban on agricultural use of chlorpyrifos in the United States, against the warnings of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own scientists -- and the US Court of Appeals has since ordered the EPA to uphold the ban.

We can win against their million-euro lobbying, as we’ve done time and time again, and get rid of chlorpyrifos for good. But it will take all of us.

Tell the EU to listen to science over pesticide lobbyists and ban this toxic chemical from Europe.

Incredible members like you have taken on the pesticide industry before and won.

In France, your donations helped our partner Générations Futures win the suspension of Dow’s bee-killing pesticide. We'll never match the industry’s cash, but we can fight back with the overwhelming numbers of parents who want to keep their kids safe and the environment clean -- and the many others who just want our governments to put human well-being over corporate greed. Are you one of them?

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