Viewpoint: Moderating agricultural pesticide use is a good idea — but only if it helps balance environmental and economic realities and is not just an ideological exercise

The EU is going too far in its control of pesticides. The Commission is updating the 2009 Sustainable Use Directive and upgrading it to a regulation.

So far so normal: more rules, more red tape around the use of pesticide.

In fairness, the use of pesticides does have an impact on the environment and it is right and proper that their use is monitored and controlled.

The issue with the proposals is how far they go in their desire to control and limit the use of pesticides.

It is also clear that any benefit from the regulation will be marginal and that habitat loss has a greater impact on the environment than pesticides have.

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In summary, all pain with little or no gain. The proposals as they stand completely ignore 40 years of ongoing EU regulation into the availability and application of pesticides.

Pesticides available today are a completely different animal to the range available 40 years ago.

Regardless of how effective a pesticide is, its impact on the wider environment is the arbiter on whether it is available for use. This is as it should be, but the proposals ignore this.

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