Keep Banned Pesticides Out of our Food
EU Member States and European Parliament
Petition
We call on EU Member States and the European Parliament to:
- Reject the EU-Mercosur trade deal, which would allow food grown with pesticides banned in Europe to flood our markets, endangering public health and the environment.
- Uphold EU food safety standards by preventing toxic pesticide loopholes that benefit big agribusiness at the expense of farmers, consumers, and biodiversity.
- Ensure fair trade policies that protect European farmers and promote sustainable agriculture instead of prioritizing corporate profits.
We must not let trade agreements undermine the health and environmental protections that Europeans fought hard to achieve. Stop this toxic trade deal—protect our health, farmers, and planet!
Why is this important?
Toxic pesticides banned in Europe are about to end up on our plates.
The EU-Mercosur trade deal would allow massive amounts of meat, soy and grains, fruit and vegetables from South America—where pesticides banned in Europe are still widely used—to flood our markets. [1] This isn’t just a trade deal—it’s a backdoor for toxic chemicals to sneak onto our plates.
It’s a gift to Big Agribusiness, but a disaster for our health and Europe’s small, local farmers. While they are forced to follow strict environmental and health standards, corporate giants would be free to import cheap food containing banned pesticides. It’s unfair, unsafe, and completely unacceptable. [2]
But here’s the good news: we have the power to stop this. France, Poland, Austria, and Italy already oppose this deal. And if they hold the line, the whole toxic agreement collapses. [3]
Big Agribusiness is fighting hard to change their stance, and this is where we come in. If we make enough noise, we can show these governments that people across Europe stand with them—and convince even more countries to reject the deal.
References:
- https://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/issues/nature-food/47322/want-to-do-something-good-for-farmers-stop-the-eu-mercosur-trade-deal/;
https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-sweden-stateless/2023/04/23fac49f-study-a-toxic-cocktail.-the-eu-mercosur-deal.pdf - https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/ecology-news/why-the-eu-mercosur-agreement-is-a-thorny-question
https://ieep.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/EU-Mercosur-agreement_V1_comments13-002.pdf -
To approve the deal it needs to be approved by at least 15 of the EU's 27 member countries, representing at least 65 percent of the bloc's population. Therefore, a minimum of four states representing at least 35 percent of the EU population could block the agreement. If France, Poland, Austria, and Italy stand firm in their opposition, the EU-Mercosur deal is very unlikely to be approved in its current form.
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-block-eu-mercosur-trade-deal-emmanuel-macron/
https://www.csis.org/analysis/what-are-implications-eu-mercosur-free-trade-agreement