21 Amendments of Molly SCOTT CATO related to 2017/2284(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Expresses its dissatisfaction with the overall degreeshocking lack of progress shown by the Member States in implementing Directive 2009/128/EC; uNotes that the Commission's 2017 progress report 1a identifies significant gaps in the National Action Plans of Member States, suggesting a lower commitment to protecting the environment and farmers in some countries that might imply unfair competition and undermine the single market; Urges the Commission to promote the harmonisation of risk indicators at EU level and to oblige the Member States to provide more comprehensive information in their National Action Plans, which must be coherent and include measurable and achievable goals and targets, and to collect more reliable data on the health and environmental impacts of exposure to pesticides; Reserves the right to refer non-compliant member states to the Competition Commissioner. _________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/p lant/docs/pesticides_sup_report- overview_en.pdf
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Notes that the implementation report on the Directive presented in October 2017 was due from the Commission on 26 November 2014 1a and that it will take significant efforts to recover from this time lost, especially regarding shortcomings in the NAPs; Deplores the low priority accorded to the control of pesticide use that this 3-year delay implies. _________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/p lant/docs/pesticides_sup_report- overview_en.pdf
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Notes that, while Member States generally have systems to gather information on pesticide acute poisoning, the accuracy of this data and its use is questioned; highlights that systems for gathering such information on chronic poisoning are not widely implemented;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. NoteRegrets that many Member States have changed their initial targets, focusing more on reducing the risks that pesticide use entails, rather than on actual reductions in the quantities used; regrets the fact that in many Member States there is no real commitment to integrated pest management (IPM) and thus developing a more environmentally-sustainable agriculture with lower costs for farmers; Notes that despite the differences in dose- effect relationships, it is still possible to classify reductions of pesticide quantities per product into meaningful categories.
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Regrets that Integrated Pest Management (IPM) remains underused by Member States despite the fact that the number of EU-approved low risk/non- chemical pesticide substances has doubled since 2009; notes that IPM is a cornerstone of Directive 2009/128/EC, but compliance with the principles of IPM at individual grower level is not being systematically checked by Member States; highlights, furthermore, that Member States have not yet set clear criteria in order to ensure that the general principles of IPM are implemented by all professional users;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls therefore for the collection of data on pesticide use as foreseen in Reg. 1185/2009 on pesticide use statistics, including the use of simple indicators and giving more attention to EU-wide monitoring tools.
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Notes in this context the importance of transparency on pesticide use statistics, as it has effects on the public and public goods, which are broader than mere commercial interests.
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Notes that increased use and dependency on pesticides comes at a high input cost to farmers; Notes also the organic farmers who suffer economic losses from their neighbours' pesticide use, whereby drift from pesticide spraying and movement of persistent active substances in the environment contaminate organic produce and soils; Notes that consequently, organic farmers are forced to sell that produce as conventional, losing out on their price premium, or worse become decertified, due to actions that are not their own.
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Notes the unintentional effects of pesticides on soil and non-target species, in particular the recent scientific study illustrating the "insect Armageddon" whereby 75% winged insects have become regionally extinct in Germany 2a, even in nature reserves where no agricultural pesticides have been used; Notes further that studies also show common bird species are declining across Europe 2b, which could be attributed to the decline in insect populations; recognises the importance of NAPs and IPM in significantly reducing pesticide usage to avoid ecological collapse; _________________ 2a More than 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas; Hallmann et al, 2017. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id =10.1371/journal.pone.0185809 2b https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10. 1111/ele.12387
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that pesticides are important tools for the agricultural sector, not least for reducing losses caused by pests, and therefore help stabilise farmers’ incomes so that they can produce safely and at affordable pricesincreasing resistance to pesticides has created a steady increase in their use in the agricultural sector, leading to increased dependency; highlights the fact that although EFSA’s latest report on pesticide residues in food showed that 97.2 % of samples throughout Europe were within the legal limits of EU legislation, which bears witness to a very rigorous and safe food production system;residues in fruits and vegetables tested increased again to 30.1% and the fruits and vegetables tested found to be without detectable pesticide residues decreased by 50.7%.
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes that resistance to pesticide active substances is a biological inevitability in fast-reproducing pests and diseases and is a growing problem; Stresses therefore the IPM approach that chemical pesticides should be used selectively and in a targeted manner, as a last rather than a first resort after exhausting all possible physical or biological alternatives; Calls therefore for the Commission and Member States to advocate a similar approach used to tackle antibiotic resistance, and limit regular, systematic, blanket /metaphylactic treatments.
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Notes that a farmer's "toolbox" is a set of agronomic practices based on physical methods as well as chemical substances and alternatives to those, such as organisms or their extracts (biological control). Notes that this broader definition of a toolkit is the basis of IPM, which can cut pesticide use by between 50-30%, and can be as simple as shallow ploughing at key times, crop rotation, allowing proliferation of beneficial species that are predators of pest species, and avoiding monocultures;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Notes that within the IPM toolkit, biological control involves boosting or introducing beneficial species that predate upon and so regulate pest populations, keeping them in check; Emphasises, therefore, the importance of using chemical pesticides as a last resort in IPM following other physical and biological methods and always applied in a selective and targeted manner, otherwise these beneficial pest control agents risk being wiped out, leaving the crops more susceptible to future attacks.
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the fact that European waters are becoming cleaner and calls for greater investment in practices thatCalls for greater investment in practices that prevent pesticides from reaching surface and deep water; Notes that of 4000 EU sites studied, 42% suffer from chronic toxicity due to failures in risk assessment of pesticides and their management, clearly showing that agrochemicals are a large-scale environmental problem across the EU with significant ecotoxicological impacts on freshwater ecosystems 1a; Highlights the cost-effectiveness of preventing pesticides from reaching surface and deep water;entering freshwater systems as opposed to costly removal technologies. _________________ 1a Malaj et al, 2014. Organic chemicals jeopardize the health of freshwater ecosystems on the continental scale. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/249 79762
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Highlights the need to focuusefulness onf precision and digital agriculture, so as to in preventing the drift and dispersion of pesticides in areasnon-target areas and targeting those substances better where they are not needed; uUnderlines the need for research into new low-risk substances andusing existing research results and funding further research on biological low-risk pest control products, as well as into the equipment and technology that could render them more efficient andhelp scale up their use, in order to reduce the potential exposure of farmers, operators and the general public to damaging chemicals.
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Notes that although precision/digital agriculture can be used to better target pesticide use where it is genuinely needed, in principle reducing the volumes used, it can in some cases simply shift the type of input dependency at a time when many farmers want to become more autonomous and cut input costs.
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Notes further that the best pesticide volume reductions are likely to arise from systemic changes that reduce susceptibility to pest attack, favour structural and biological diversity over monocultures and continuous cropping, and reduce pest resistance to active ingredients; Highlights therefore the need to focus on, fund and mainstream agroecological methods which make the whole farming system more resilient to pests.
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Urges the Commission to make the 8 general principles of IPM legal requirements; Calls for the integration of IPM into the revision of the CAP with proven reductions in pesticide dependency being an indicator of success.
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Highlights the importance of farm advisory services (FAS) to help farmers reduce pesticide use and to successfully and affordably incorporate IPM as standard practice, resorting only to chemical pesticides if necessary after using physical and biological alternatives; Underlines the need for knowledge sharing and skill acquisition regarding alternatives to chemical pesticides and IPM, including finding the optimum crop rotation for farmers' market and climatic situations; Notes further that this was already foreseen in the horizontal regulation of the CAP, notably also FAS and EIP innovation partnerships, both financed by the CAP within Rural Development;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5e. Highlights the pilot project supported by the agriculture and the budget committees on the IPM toolkit for farmers, allowing them to be aware of and chose from the various alternative and combined pest control options available to them, in order to best suit their needs and mainstream IPM, cutting chemical use.