Following the publication in early August of a report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which confirmed the risk posed by chlorpyrifos and methyl chlorpyrifos at a genotoxic and neurological level, the European Commission will propose to member countries of the European Union (EU) not to renew the authorization for the use of these pesticides as of January 2020.
Chlorpyrifos, a pesticide widely used in agriculture, was authorized for the first time in the European Union in 2006, although it is currently banned in eight states: Germany, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In the EU, pesticide authorizations are periodically reassessed in light of scientific findings; a decision that ultimately depends on the member states. That of chlorpyrifos expires on January 31 next year.
Since its launch in 1965, it has been one of the most widely used pesticides in agriculture to protect crops from insects. In fact, in the European Union, chlorpyrifos is among the fifteen pesticides most present in food, and its residues have been detected mostly in citrus fruits, according to an analysis published by the Pesticide Action Network in June, which found them in one out of every four grapefruits and lemons, as well as in a third of all oranges and mandarins analyzed.
In Spain, its presence was detected in one out of every five fruits, including in 40% of the oranges and 35% of the mandarins analyzed, according to the studies cited by the organization.
The U.S. Agency for Environmental Protection (EPA) had already started the process to ban it in 2015, but in 2017 it stopped with the arrival of the Donald Trump administration, which refused to limit its use. However, on August 9, a Court of Appeals ordered the Government to ban it within 60 days.
