The European Commission will decide not to renew the marketing authorisation for 'chlorothalonil', a fungicide widely used in agriculture, the institution confirmed on Monday 1 April.
The representatives of the Twenty-Eight (on the PAFF Committee) approved the Commission's proposal to this effect on 22 March. This was based on an EFSA opinion which concluded that the approval criteria were not satisfactory due to the fact that genotoxicity of residues of this substance cannot be excluded and the high risk to fish and amphibians due to groundwater contamination. The Commission's decision will come “probably in May”, a spokeswoman told EUROPE.
What about thiacloprid? German MEP Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA) welcomed the news in a statement that “the European Commission, on the basis of the most recent data, is reacting and intends to ban a substance that has already been on the market for 50 years [...] Clearly, this fungicide is responsible for appalling losses in the bumble bee population, as made public by American researchers”.
Mr Haüsling therefore considers it “irritating” that “the Commission is considering renewing the authorisation of a Bayer pesticide”, the neonicotinoid thiacloprid. When asked about this, the Commission did not want to confirm, but merely recalled that thiacloprid is authorised until April 2020. The renewal of thiacloprid was entered on the agenda of the PAFF Committee meeting on 21-22 March. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)