Netherlands plays key role in exporting banned pesticides: report
The Netherlands plays a key role in exporting pesticides banned in the European Union to other countries, according to research by Argos. The program found that the Dutch export of these substances, which are banned from use in the EU due to health and environmental risks but can still be produced and sold here, is much higher than recorded. The substances also make their way back to the EU via imported fruit and vegetables.
The Dutch government does not keep track of how much of which banned pesticides the Netherlands exports to which country, then Minister Carola Schouten told parliament in 2021. The only available figures are based on a European system that must warn countries when toxic substances are shipped. But this system is not specific and only gives a limited picture, according to Argos.
Argos obtained trade data from Brazil and found that in 2022, 6,000 tons of six different pesticides banned in the EU were shipped from Rotterdam to the port of Santos, near Säo Paulo. According to EU data, the Netherlands shipped only one banned pesticide - the potentially carcinogenic propargite - to Brazil, and the exports amounted to less than 1,240 tons.
The six exported pesticides were banned in the EU because they pose risks to fertility and unborn children, are potentially carcinogenic, or have long-term harmful effects on the environment.
Research by the Swiss organization Public Eye, based on data requested from the EU through an Open Government procedure, also showed that Dutch exports of banned pesticides have only increased in recent years. “According to that data, there has been an almost doubling in the number of tons exported from Rotterdam between 2018 and 2022. That means that the Dutch role in trade does not decrease, but only increases,” researcher Laurent Gaberell told Argos.
According to Gaberell, the trade figures Argos found, and the fact that they are five times higher than what the EU recorded, shows that “the Netherlands really plays a key role” in exporting these banned pesticides. He added that Brazillian farmers still dump these pesticides from airplanes over farmlands. “This poses serious risks to local residents, drinking, water, and the environment.”
And these risks aren’t isolated to countries abroad. These harmful substances make their way back to the EU and the Netherlands through the import of fruit and vegetables. In 2022, Foodwatch discovered residues of banned neonicotinoids on 16% of grain products, 14% of herbs, and 8% of vegetables.
And that is only one banned pesticide. Professor Ad Ragas of Radboud University told Argos that Dutch regulations, which set standards per substance, are insufficient to guarantee safety if more than one substance is present on a piece of fruit, for example. He suggests lowering all the individual standards. “If you look at a mixture, the toxicity of the mixture is almost always dominated by five to ten substances. If you ensure that they are all below the standard by a factor of ten, then the combined mixture will also meet that standard. But that does mean that even fewer pesticides can be allowed on the market,” he told the program.
