The deceptive harmonised risk indicator 1 – and how it can be fixed
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The EU Commission aims to halve the use and risk of pesticides in the EU by 2030 through legislation. However, the method proposed for measuring progress threatens to render these plans meaningless. The end result could be a fictitious reduction in pesticide use that exists only on paper, while the field application of particularly dangerous pesticides may actually increase, replacing harmless pesticides with more toxic ones.
This explanatory video highlights the serious flaws in the measurement method proposed by the Commission. This method assigns for example an eight-fold higher risk to sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), classified as a „low-risk pesticide,“ compared to difenoconazole, labeled as a „Candidate for Substitution“ – and even a 50-fold higher risk compared to the bee-killing neurotoxin deltamethrin.
The video also shows simple solutions to repair the indicator.
This video was produced at the initiative of the European Citizens‘ Initiative „Save Bees and Farmers“.