Euroviews. When it comes to pesticides, we must not repeat the tragedy of asbestos

In November 2023, despite strong opposition, the European Union extended authorization for the use of the toxic herbicide glyphosate by 10 years — and now it has abandoned its green pact pledge to reduce the use of pesticides by 50%.

The current situation with pesticides brings to mind the asbestos tragedy — there are many similarities, including a failure of justice. In Europe, it was only in Italy that a criminal trial took place in 2012.

And that is why we, as managers of European mutual health organizations and public health stakeholders, are calling for determined action to defend the right to health and to preserve social protection systems.

In the 20th century, we acted to stop the poisoning of workers exposed to asbestos. We defended the victims so that they could get the compensation they needed and deserved.

But this should all have been avoided: while the toxicity of asbestos was identified in 1906, it was not until 2005 that it was banned in Europe. There was in effect a whole century of political denials, despite ever-increasing numbers of scientific publications and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Tragically, these poisonings and deaths continue today, since asbestos is still widely present. The asbestos industry lobbied hard to make people believe that controlled use of this dangerous mineral was possible, which delayed its eventual ban and the adoption of efficient prevention rules.

It is estimated that between 4 and 7 million European workers are still exposed to asbestos on a daily basis.

Today, we’re launching an urgent appeal: let’s not make the same mistake with pesticides. Let’s not repeat the disastrous approach that’s still causing more than 90,000 deaths per year in Europe, as well as many cancers.

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