1. Introduction, Danish Environmental Protection Agency

Report of the sub-committee on the environment and health.

1. Introduction

On 15 May 1997 the Folketing (the Danish Parliament) unanimously passed a parliamentary resolution urging the government to appoint a committee with independent expertise to analyse all the consequences of totally or partially phasing out the use of pesticides in agriculture and to examine alternative methods of preventing and controlling plant diseases, pests and weeds.

The committee was to assess the consequences for production, the economy, legislation, health and the environment, and employment. In continuation of its mandate (see chapter 2), the Sub-committee for Environment and Health looked at issues relating to the precautionary principle (see chapter 8) and the relationship between the pesticide load and the load from other chemical impacts in agriculture (see chapter 7).

The results of the committee’s work were to be used in the coming work on a new pesticide action plan.

In the mandate of 4 July 1998, the Minister of Environment and Energy stipulated that a main committee be appointed with expert members from the research world, the agricultural industries, the "green" organisations, consumer organisations, the foodstuffs and agrochemical industries, the trade unions and relevant ministries. Its members were to cover the specialist areas of agricultural production, economics, legislation, employment, health, the environment and ecology.

In addition, four sub-committees were appointed. Their task was to facilitate the main committee's final reporting by drafting specialist background reports.

The main committee had the task of coordinating and discussing the sub-committees' work and of preparing the final report for the Minister.

The sub-committees were to cover the following areas:

1. Agriculture
2. Production, economics and employment
3. Environment and health
4. Legislation

As points of reference for their work, the sub-committees were to use both the optimum production from the standpoint of operating economy and the production achieved to date by the agricultural industries – farming, market gardening and forestry. They were to assess the consequences for production, the economy, legislation, health, employment and the environment.

In their work, the sub-committees were to evaluate scenarios for total and partial phasing out of pesticides and examine the consequences of restructuring for organic farming, taking into account activities already in progress concerning such restructuring.