We joined over 100 civil society organisations in signing a letter urging the European Commission to end the export of pesticides banned in the EU and to stop importing food grown with those same hazardous substances.
The message is simple: if a chemical is too dangerous to use on European soil, it shouldn’t be produced here, nor tolerated in the food we import.
This practice fuels a toxic double standard that harms health, ecosystems and communities, especially in countries least equipped to regulate or resist corporate pressure. It also undermines trust in EU food and trade policy, while exposing European consumers to products grown with substances our own farmers are banned from using.
We strongly believe that food system reform and animal welfare must go hand in hand with environmental justice and global responsibility. That means ending harmful exports, demanding fair standards in trade deals and building a food system that doesn’t shift its harms elsewhere.
We call on the Commission to act swiftly and end this contradiction, because toxic is toxic, no matter where it’s sprayed.