[Front page] [Next]
THE BICHEL COMMITTEE
Preface
1 Introduction and background
2 Composition of the Committee
3 Mandate for the Committee's work
4 The Committee's definition of the work and form of reporting 4.1 The Committee's report
5 Description of present conditions 5.1 The production and socioeconomic conditions of agriculture 5.1.1 Farming 5.1.2 Market gardening and fruit growing 5.1.3 Private forestry 5.2 Occurrence and effects of pesticide consumption in the environment 5.2.1 Occurrence of pesticides in the environment 5.2.2 Environmental effects 5.3 Health effects 5.3.1 Effects on the working environment 5.3.2 Public health 5.4 Proportionality 5.4.1 Chemical substances in agriculture 5.4.2 Chemical substances in foodstuffs 5.4.3 Natural substances 5.4.4 Patterns of consumption in other countries 5.5 Current Danish regulation of pesticides 5.5.1 Pesticide policy to date 5.5.2 Danish regulation of the pesticides field 5.5.3 Auxiliary substances 5.6 Present Danish regulation of organic farming 5.6.1 Ecological policy to date 5.6.2 Danish legislation on the area of the ecology 5.7 Precautionary principle 5.8 Research on pesticides and the ecology 5.9 Other matters 5.9.1 Production of toxins 5.9.2 Soil preparation, mineralisation and energy consumption 5.10 Ranking of pesticides 5.11 Other applicable legislation 5.11.1 EU law 5.11.2 WTO law 5.11.3 Constitutional rules on expropriation 5.11.4 Legal assessment of means for phasing out pesticides
6 Basic assumptions for assessing consequences 6.1 Choice of scenarios for pesticide phase-out 6.1.1 Preconditions and methods of farming 6.1.2 Choice of organic scenarios 6.2 Methods of controlling pests 6.2.1 Prevention and control when deciding crops and crop rotation regimes 6.2.2 Prevention and control of fungal diseases 6.2.3 Seed-born diseases 6.2.4 Prevention and control of pests 6.2.5 Prevention and control of weeds 6.2.6 Growth regulation 6.2.7 Biological control 6.2.8 Use of damage thresholds and decision support system 6.2.9 Genetically-modified crops 6.2.10 Possibility of reducing pesticide consumption through alternative spraying techniques 6.2.11 New pesticides 6.3 Changes in yield and contribution margin following a ban on pesticides 6.3.1 Methods of determining yield losses 6.3.2 Methods of estimating total loss magnitudes 6.3.3 Variations in yield level of current production 6.4 Methods for calculating economic consequences 6.5 Environmental and health-related assumptions 6.6 Review of analyses of the individual scenarios
7 Consequences of phasing out pesticides and of restructuring for organic production 7.1 Total and partial phase-out of pesticides in the agricultural sector 7.1.1 Consequences for agricultural production 7.1.2 The economic consequences 7.1.3 Environmental effects 7.1.4 Effects on the working environment 7.1.5 Effects on public health 7.1.6 Energy consumption, emission of greenhouse gases, leaching of nutrient salts 7.2 Total or partial phase-out of pesticides in market gardening and fruit growing 7.2.1 Consequences for market gardening and fruit growing 7.3 Total or partial phase-out of pesticides in private forestry 7.4 Total conversion to organic farming 7.4.1 Consequences for agricultural production 7.4.2 The economic consequences 7.4.3 The environmental and health consequences 7.4.4 Discussion and perspectives 7.5 Phasing out pesticides in particularly sensitive drinking water areas
8 Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee 8.1 Background and prerequisites of the total or partial phasing out of pesticide 8.2 Environmental and health-related consequences of pesticide use and proportionality with respect to other chemical substances used in farming 8.3 Proposals for changing the present approval scheme and other measures for ensuring the safety of health and the environment 8.4 Ranking of pesticides 8.5 Precautionary principle 8.6 Alternative methods of controlling and preventing pests 8.7 Consequences of a total or partial phase-out of pesticide use 8.7.1 Total phase-out 8.7.2 Limited use of pesticides 8.7.3 Optimised use of pesticides 8.8 Phasing out pesticide use in market gardening, fruit growing and forestry 8.8.1 Market gardening and fruit growing 8.8.2 Private forestry 8.9 Total organic restructuring 8.10 Recommendations on total or partial phasing-out of pesticides and on restructuring for organic production
9 References
[Front page] [Next] [Top]