Swedes to sue Commission over paraquat

By Roger Falk

Date: 12/02/04

THE Swedish government is to sue the European Commission at the Court of Justice over its decision to relicence paraquat, the highly toxic herbicide.

It is the first time that Sweden has launched proceedings over an issue which does not have solely national implications.

Lena Sommestad, the country's agriculture minister, described paraquat as an "unacceptable weedkiller which does not belong in a sustainable agriculture".

The precise grounds for legal action have not yet been decided, but it is likely the government will refer to the "precautionary principle" and protection clause in the EC treaty, as well as the directive on plant protection products.

Paraquat is currently banned in Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Finland, as well as being subject to severe restrictions in Hungary and Germany. However, it is legal in many major crop-producing countries, including the US, China, Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil.

The European Commission's standing committee on the food chain and animal health relicenced paraquat for ten years last September - a decision that could force countries which have banned it to lift their restrictions.

The Swedish government believes that its environmentally aware and generally eurosceptic public would not approve such a U-turn. Any such move would come against the backdrop of earlier setbacks for the country's environmental policy. On accession, the Swedes were temporarily allowed to maintain stricter environmental legislation than the rest of the EU.

But now the country has been forced to adapt to internal market regulations, for instance by lifting a ban on allergenic food colourings used in sweets.

Paraquat, first produced for commercial purposes by ICI in 1961, is manufactured by agro-chemical giant Syngeta in Huddersfield, UK, as well as in the US and China.

It is widely used for weed control in fruit orchards and plantation crops, including coffee, cocoa, coconut, bananas, olives and tea. It is also used by farms growing onions, leeks, sugar beet and asparagus, and as a dessicant for soya beans and sunflowers.

George Diriwaechter, public affairs manager of Syngenta Crop Protection, points out that paraquat underwent a rigorous scientific and regulatory review before its licence was extended.

"It is surprising that Sweden, that has been deeply involved throughout the process, would consider this measure [to sue the Commission]," he added.

Green groups believe the Commission has set a bad example, making it harder for third-world countries to keep or impose their own restrictive legislation on paraquat.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and the Pesticide Action Network claim that Syngenta has referred to its relicencing in the Union as an argument to encourage the Malaysian government to reverse its recent decision to phase out the product.

Swallowing paraquat is often lethal, and there is no known antidote. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the effects include fluid in the lungs, lung scarring, liver failure, kidney failure, confusion, coma and breathing failure. Victims can suffer a slow, painful death, often lasting two weeks and sometimes after a period of apparent recovery.

Those who survive are highly likely to suffer long-term lung damage. Inhaling or skin exposure to paraquat cause serious skin, nail, nose, eye and lung damage.

The World Health Organization estimates that agricultural chemicals are involved in 20,000 accidental deaths and three million acute poisonings every year. These incidents mostly occur among poor and uneducated farm workers in the third world, who lack protection equipment or fail to follow the manufacturer's guidelines.

But according to the Swedish agriculture minister, there have also been incidents involving paraquat in the EU.

• Roger Falk is a Brussels-based Swedish freelance journalist.

The Swedish Government is to take the European Commission to the European Court of Justice to seek to overturn the Commission's decision to permit the use of herbicides containing paraquat. Paraquat has been banned in Sweden since 1983.