Pesticides Banned in the EU Are Still Being Sent Abroad

The EU continued to export banned pesticides deemed dangerous to humans and the environment in 2024, particularly to countries in the Global South, despite a promise from the European Commission to end the practice. A new investigation by civil society organizations Unearthed and Public Eye shines light on how European companies issued plans to export pesticides containing 75 different chemicals that are banned from use in the EU that year. This is nearly twice the number of prohibited substances notified for export in 2018.

According to Unearthed, “This sharp increase is because in the past seven years the EU has banned dozens of pesticides that were previously authorized for use on European farms, after evidence emerged of the dangers they pose to human health or the environment.” Despite these bans, the group says, the EU is yet to place restrictions on companies continuing to manufacture and export these chemicals. Many of the banned pesticides that are currently being exported were prohibited recently.

As the following chart shows, Germany was the biggest exporter of pesticides containing the banned chemicals, exporting around 50,256 tonnes of product. It was followed by Belgium with 16,477 tonnes of banned pesticides and Spain with 12,883 tonnes. In total, more than 120,000 tonnes of banned pesticides were exported.

Three quarters of the exports of EU-banned pesticides in 2024 went to low- or middle-income nations, where regulations against harmful exposure to such pesticides are weaker. These include, among others, Brazil, (14,644 tonnes of pesticides that include the banned chemicals in their composition), India (2,086 tonnes), Colombia (1,905 tonnes), Indonesia (1,844 tonnes) and the Philippines (2,277 tonnes). Russia too appears on the list with 4,257 tonnes of the banned pesticides sent there, as the product is not among those facing restrictions in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Harmful chemicals included in the pesticides exported include 1,3-dichloropropene (found in 20,848 tonnes of the banned pesticides exported), Glufosinate (in 19,543 tonnes of pesticides), Mancozeb (in 8,518 tonnes worth of pesticides), Picoxystrobin (7,665 tonnes) and Epoxiconazole (7,394 tonnes).