Environmental Groups Challenge Belgium’s Pesticide Authorizations

Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Three environmental NGOs are suing Belgium for illegally authorizing the use of “highly toxic” pesticides. They claim the state’s approval of abamectin pesticides violates EU regulations, allowing outdoor use against EU restrictions.

Three environmental NGOs are bringing Belgium to court, claiming that the State is illegally authorising the usage of “highly toxic” pesticides. Nature & Progrès (Nature and Progress), PAN (Pesticide Action Network) Europe and Bond Beter Leefmilieu (Association for a Better Environment) have filed a plea with the Council of State (Belgium’s supreme court for administrative matters) asserting that a decision by Belgium to authorise the use of specific pesticides should be annulled.

The case centres around the Belgian State’s re-authorisation of three pesticides having abamectin (namely the insecticides Acaramik, Safran and Vargas). The move is not the first to be taken against the current administration relating to pesticides; Nature and Progress and PAN Europe took a lawsuit against the Federal Agriculture Minister last year over the usage of the insecticide Indoxacarb.

Are Belgian Pesticide Approvals Endangering Public Health?

In a joint statement, the three NGOs stated that the EU has put in place a strict framework for the authorisation of pesticides and that Belgium‘s approval of the use of “highly toxic” abamectin pesticides goes “well beyond” the bloc’s regulatory framework.

Are Toxic Pesticides Still Legal in Belgium?

The NGOs suggested EU rules which restrict the use of abamectin to fully sealed systems such as greenhouses, which they express Belgium’s Federal Government agreed to in 2023. However, they claim that Belgium has now dropped the restrictive requirements for closed areas and has authorised its use outdoors and in tunnels until 2039. Virginie Pissoort, campaigns officer at Nature et Progrès Belgique, elucidated that while European legislation defines a greenhouse as a closed system, Belgium has opted for a different intent.

Is Belgium Ignoring EU Pesticide Restrictions?

“Belgium has created its directive on the subject, under the term ‘protected cultivation’, contenting itself with walls and a roof, like a single-storey tunnel, allowing materials and energy to infiltrate through windows, entrances or the ground. This option taken by Belgium of ‘cultivation under protection’ contradicts European requirements,” she stated.

A report issued last year by Nature & Progrès and PAN Europe stressed that Belgium is one of the biggest users of pesticides in Europe, despite a 2020 pledge to reduce pesticide use. At the time the report was disseminated in March of last year, it noted that 80% of the active substances marked as highly toxic by the European Union continue to be used in Belgium.

The NGOs stated that the current legislature’s record on pesticide deduction is a “sad one” and they called for government acquisition to support farmers to move away from these substances, as well as a “vision and long-term commitment”.