Sustainable use of plant protection products
The European Commission, DG XI, has been conducting a project on the sustainable use of products for plant protection since 1992, in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry for the Environment (VROM). The first phase of the project was concluded in June 1994 with a workshop entitled "Framework for the sustainable use of plant protection products in the EU", the outcome of which was mainly recommendations for further study. A series of six sub-projects have since been carried out, for which a summary of the main results is now available, giving a brief introduction to each. The studies addressed the hypothesis that intensive agricultural production in a large part of the EU has resulted in pollution from, among other things, plant protection products, with resulting threats to groundwater, surface water, soil and air quality. The overall aim of the project was to assess whether the current regulatory framework was sufficient to produce desired reductions in environmental pollution caused by plant protection products. The reports on the six sub-projects address the following: - Possible arguments and objectives of an additional EU policy on plant protection products; - Additional EU policy instruments for plant protection products; - Analysis of agricultural policy in relation to the use of plant protection products; - Further analysis on use patterns of plant protection products in EU farming; - Further analysis of the presence of residues and environmental impact of plant protection products; - Assessment of the benefits of plant protection products.