Who are we? 

We are a not-for-profit organisation fighting against the authorisation of harmful pesticides. We are a team of 15 dedicated pesticide experts coming from all over Europe and working together through advocacy, campaigning, scientific advice and litigation, to protect the environment and people from exposure to pesticides.

Summary 

Glyphosate is the top-one-used pesticide and a cornerstone of industrial agriculture. Its wide use contaminates the environment and harms people, although safer and sustainable alternatives exist and could be used instead.

In 2015, glyphosate was classified as 'probable carcinogen' by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). This classification is based on solid scientific evidence, which has been evaluated by high-level independent toxicologists. Such a classification should have led to a ban of the substance in the EU. Nevertheless, for political reasons, both EU and UK authorities reject this classification and European scientific agencies have twisted the data and produced a scientific assessment of the substance that is not in line with the EU and international commonly used guidelines. Carcinogenicity, unfortunately, is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the toxicity of glyphosate. Other toxicity issues related to glyphosate, such as neurotoxicity, toxicity to microbiome, reproductive disorders and impacts on biodiversity, were similarly underplayed by European agencies. Therefore, following a scientifically flawed re-assessment, Glyphosate was re-approved in November 2023 by the European Commission, and is therefore still widely used, not only in the EU but also in the UK.

In addition to being toxic to humans, Glyphosate is also highly toxic to aquatic life and bees. Insects, fish, algae, and thousands of other animal species disappear due to the broad environmental contamination of Glyphosate. 

The extinction of insects such as bees leads to decrease of food while the disappearance of fish from water streams leads to starvation of birds and strongly contributes to their disappearance from our landscapes

Despite Brexit, UK pesticide policies are still highly influenced by EU decisions as UK authorities heavily rely on the scientific assessment carried out in the EU. This is why it is important that UK citizens join EU citizens in supporting our legal battle against the re-authorisation of Glyphosate. 

Since 2021, NGOs are allowed to challenge European pesticide approvals before the Court of Justice of the EU. PAN Europe has taken the lead in launching a series of legal actions against the approval of pesticides before the Court.

In December this year, PAN Europe challenged the re-approval of glyphosate by submitting a Request for Annulment before the Court of Justice of the EU. This complaint represents a considerable amount of work for our organisation as it requires scientific and legal knowledge, the screening of hundreds of pages of regulatory files and liaising with numerous experts. We are just starting a 3-years long procedure during which the European Commission, several EU Member States, as well as the pesticide industry, will fight hard against our complaint, to oppose the possible ban of Glyphosate. 

Call to action 

We therefore need your help! This lengthy 'David against Goliath' procedure will require considerable financial resources that we have estimated in the region of
£200 000 over 3 years.

What are we trying to achieve? 

If we win the legal case and judges agree that Glyphosate should be reclassified as a 'probable carcinogen', this judgement will automatically lead to a full ban of the pesticide in the EU.  This will improve the state of the environment and people's health in the EU and will also have a major impact on third countries that rely on the EU classification system, such as the UK. 

Obtaining a ban on glyphosate in the EU would inevitably fuel British civil society to put pressure on the UK government to finally ban this carcinogenic and genotoxic herbicide for which alternatives exist.

Furthermore, the reclassification of glyphosate will automatically reduce the pesticide residue limits in food and feed. Countries exporting to the EU will also have to strongly restrict the use of glyphosate in, for example, glyphosate-resistant GM crops, such as Latin American soybean that the EU massively imports, causing environmental and health disasters in the region.

Winning would also show Europeans that our scientific agencies and our public servants who are supposed to protect our health, are actually playing with the pesticide industry. This would lead to a massive reorganisation of these agencies, and a better control on the way they work, improving in turn the way pesticides are assessed in general.  

What is the next step in the legal case? 

In the coming year, an intense back-and-forth exchange of legal and scientific arguments will take place, requiring an important amount of legal and scientific resources. Our experts and collaborators will need to address countless flawed arguments coming from the European Commission and private parties, who base their arguments and decisions on unscientific work.

How much are we raising and why?

£200 000 is the estimated cost of the 3-year’s legal campaign, to cover the cost of our lawyers and experts.

We hope that you can help us. We thank you very much for any support you can provide in achieving a definite ban of glyphosate in Europe, the UK, and beyond!