Press and investigative reports have revealed the excessive use of banned pesticides has taken on a new dimension: those banned in Europe find their way into the hands of Palestinian farmers. Isn't the rule of thumb: what is dangerous in one place is dangerous everywhere?
If your path ever leads you to the northern Jordan Valley—Palestine’s vegetable basket—you will witness firsthand the uncontrolled use of agricultural pesticides. It's a situation characterized by chaos and randomness, with a clear absence of the most basic precautionary measures and safety standards. One of the most prominent issues is excessive spraying of various kinds of pesticides. Farmers often use large quantities of a single pesticide or combine multiple pesticides at the same time, mistakenly believing that such practices will provide better crop protection. This extends to the use pesticides that are banned but smuggled from the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
After Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, Palestinian agriculture was greatly affected. The introduction of external agricultural sciences caused the loss of much of its originality and inherited agricultural knowledge. Many locally produced (baladi) crops were lost due to the disappearance of heirloom seeds. Palestinian agriculture became entirely subject to the influence of foreign monoculture and chemical agriculture, with all that entails in terms of the use of hybrid, and later genetically modified seeds. This has also been accompanied by the intensive use of agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides.
For decades, funding from international financial institutions and various agricultural programs in Palestine has pushed Palestinian farmers towards agricultural practices, which have proven globally unsuccessful, such as monoculture. After this was experienced, Europe and North America began to shift towards developing sustainable and ecological agriculture. There has also been a growing trend towards agricultural diversification as a necessity for livelihood and economic stability, and as an alternative to monoculture farming, which requires great dependence on external production inputs, such as pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hybrid seeds, water, financial loans, etc. In addition, industrial monoculture has caused environmental pollution, disrupted the natural ecological balance, destroyed soil fertility, and consumed scarce water.
Banned in Europe… Allowed elsewhere!
More than 500 pesticides are not banned for use in the West Bank, although some are prohibited in the European Union due to their health impacts and environmental hazards. An investigative report, "Poison: Banned European Pesticides Exported to Arab Countries," revealed that between 2018 and 2023, 13 pesticides banned or restricted in the European Union were exported to the Palestinian territories.
The Director of the Pesticides Department in the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture and member of the Scientific Committee, Salama Shabib, however, stated that it is conducting a study and reevaluating pesticides to decide whether to allow or ban their use. It is acknowledged by the scientific committee specialized in pesticides section that decisions to allow or ban pesticides prioritize the economic importance of maintaining agricultural production over health and environmental risks. Other considerations include allowing the import of these pesticides by citing differences between Europe and Palestine, the farmers’ need for these pesticides, and the fact that "prohibition in one country does not mean local prohibition." As a result, pesticides banned internationally due to harmful substances are likely to remain in circulation.
The report of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (October 2021) indicated the weak performance of the Scientific Committee due to the absence of an operational procedures’ manual and the lack of updates to the pesticide guideline in line with global studies and research. This has allowed the circulation of internationally banned pesticides containing harmful substances. For example, the pesticide Mancozeb was banned in the West Bank in 2012, but the Palestinian Scientific Committee reauthorized its use in 2017 and it remains permitted until the publication of this article. According to the report of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), this pesticide causes endocrine disruption in humans because it alters hormonal balance. However, this was not enough for the Ministry of Agriculture and the Palestinian Scientific Committee to reinstate the ban of the pesticide. This example clearly illustrates the arbitrary working mechanism of these bodies.
An interview with Ministry of Agriculture and a State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau report, reveals a of lack sufficient regulatory monitors and inspectors. Furthermore, the limited number of agricultural extensions workers are unable to fulfill their roles in monitoring and providing guidance. Alongside the possibility that some importers may circumvent the official procedures for pesticide licensing. Field observations and feedback from farmers reveal that many do not follow strict preventive measures when spraying pesticides. Instead, they rely on what they describe as 'experience,' without adhering to the instructions provided on the pesticide packaging during
spraying operations.
Billions at the expense of health and the environment
In 2018 alone, European companies exported more than 81,000 tonnes of highly hazardous pesticides banned in the EU due to "unacceptable risks they pose to human health and the environment," according to the non-governmental organizations Greenpeace and Public Eye. The United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain accounted for over 90 percent of these exports. Moreover, three-quarters of the 85 importing countries (including Palestine) are low- or middle-income countries, where the use of these substances is allowed despite their known risks.
An analysis of a large database of best-selling "crop protection products" for 2018 revealed that the world's leading agrochemical companies generated over 35 percent of their sales from pesticides classified as "highly hazardous" to humans, animals, or ecosystems. According to Statista, a leading statistics portal, the total sales of pesticides for the top 20 companies globally in 2022 amounted to $85.7 billion, representing an 18 percent year-on-year increase, from $72.5 billion in 2021. Four companies (Syngenta, Bayer, BASF and Corteva) accounted for 55 percent of the list's total sales. With the exception of Nanjing Red Sun, all companies had revenues exceeding $1 billion. In 2023, Syngenta was ranked as the leading global crop protection company by revenue, with pesticide sales totaling approximately $15.43 billion. Bayer CropScience, a division of Bayer AG, ranked second with pesticide sales of $11.4 billion. Bayer CropScience's total revenue for the year, which includes both seed and pesticide sales, exceeded €23 billion.
Despite their obvious dangers, many types of pesticides banned in Europe continue to find their way to many Arab countries, including Palestine, through a European legal and legislation system that turns a blind eye to the export of these toxins. These double standards of the European Union pose real challenges to environmental, health, and social safety standards. With the failure to pass amendments to the law on the export of hazardous pesticides abroad, pesticide lobbies continue to reap billions of dollars at the expense of the health and lives of humans and organisms that are of great agricultural importance. This occurs at a time when accurate statistics on the impact of these pesticides in impoverished importing countries are lacking. The effects of these toxic substances often remain hidden, emerging only after years of exposure and the consumption of crops treated with numerous types of pesticides.
In the Palestinian territories, the journey to achieving effective control that limits the excessive use of agricultural
poisons appears long and arduous. It’s a journey that requires strict control from the Scientific Committee, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, and the Environmental Quality Authority and bold decisions to ban pesticides that have been banned in other countries as a precautionary measure. Until the first step in the thousand-mile journey is taken, people's health and our biodiversity-rich environment remain at risk, waiting for the bell to be tolled.