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Report of the sub-committee on the environment and health. PrefaceThe Sub-committee for Environment and Health, which is part of the Bichel Committee, was appointed in autumn 1997 to assess the consequences for the environment and public health of phasing out the use of pesticides. This report is a result of those assessments and is one of five technical background reports that form the basis for the Bichel Committee's final report to the Minister of Environment and Energy. The other background reports cover the consequences for agriculture, the consequences for the economy and employment and, lastly, the legal possibilities of phasing out the use of pesticides. The last-mentioned report also covers the overall consequences of total restructuring for organic farming. This is the first time in Denmark - and probably also internationally - that such an extensive interdisciplinary analysis has been conducted of the consequences for agriculture of a total or partial phase-out of pesticide use and of total restructuring for organic production. The Sub-committee for Environment and Health found a wide range of health and environmental impacts from pesticides that are now banned. On this basis, the sub-committee also found that our knowledge about impacts is constantly increasing, so substances that are at present regarded as safe may be viewed differently in the future. Experience to date thus confirms that pesticides should only be used with great caution. The sub-committee also ascertained a number of impacts from the use of pesticides on both the terrestrial and the aquatic environment, but did not find any health effects on the population in general from currently authorised pesticides. The sub-committee identified various lacunae in our knowledge that make it difficult to calculate the consequences of phasing out the use of pesticides. The sub-committee therefore had to limit the actual analysis of consequences to the few impacts about which there was sufficient background information. The sub-committee also considered how the environment and health could be protected still further and, in that connection, indicated various areas for action. The sub-committee based its report on a number of consultants' reports. The consultants, the members of the sub-committee and the secretariat all made a major contribution to the creation of the report, and we take this opportunity to thank everyone concerned for their good work.
Henrik Sandbech |