1. Bram de Borst International HCH & Pesticides Association
Tendencies in pesticide use, pesticides and GMO and effects on human health and the environment
Bram de Borst
International HCH & Pesticides Association

2. Pesticides as one of the instruments to increase food production
There are basically three types of pesticides:
Herbicides = weed killers
Fungicides
Insecticides
Examples of other ways to improve food production are: scale of agriculture, use of fertilizers, plant breeding with the purpose to increase the yield and to reduce the vulnerability of plants for diseases
Today my focus is on pesticides

3. Use of pesticides and important events
Year
1945
1955
1965
1975
1985
1995
2005
Thousand tonnes / yr
200
700
1000
1700
2800
3500
4000
Awareness
Silent Spring 1962
Stepwise ban of DDT
Stockholm convention in force
1944: first application of DDT in Europe for typhus epidemic in Napels

4. What are the lessons learned from DDT?
Important push for more research
Development of market access criteria
Prior assessment of:
Persistence
Toxicity
Bio-accumulation
Transport mechanisms
When we test now, in 2016 fresh snow in Alaska, we still find traces of DDT. DDT (and several other pesticides) are found as a kind of background level in fish around the world, from the mountain lakes in the Himalaya till the deep ocean

5. Not only the chemicals, also the application
The global demand for food production cannot be fulfilled without use of agrochemicals
Over the last decades we see a small decrease in use of pesticides per hectare
FAO is putting a lot of efforts in reduction of the use of agrochemicals
Assisting countries in developing effective legal framework for the testing, market access and controlled use of agrochemicals
Assisting countries in implementation of Integrated Pest Management: application of a wider range of tools, biological and chemical, minimization of chemicals use
Promotion of sustainable agricultural production

6. New tendencies and questions due to application of GMO
Year
1945
1955
1965
1975
1985
1995
2005
All pesticides Thousand tonnes / yr
200
700
1000
1700
2800
3500
4000
Awareness
Silent Spring 1962
Stepwise ban of DDT
Stockholm convention in force
Glyphosate
Thousand
Tonnes / yr 13 40
600
GMO as such is not bad (see evaluation document on website FAO)
But is this what we want: GM-HT food production? To modify the genetic ‘formula’ of soja in order to make it herbicide (glyphosate) tolerant. In consequence this opens the possibility of unlimited use of the herbicide glyphosate. But do we know sufficiently the (future) effects?

7. Effects of pesticides for health and environment
Yes, we improved the criteria for market access of pesticides
Yes, there is much more research on the toxicity of pesticides
Yes, we are able to develop more intelligent and less harmless pesticides
BUT:
10 days ago 400 medical specialists came together at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam to discuss the dramatic decrease of fertility of men and defects of genitals of new-born boys in the Western world. When this tendency continues, artificial insemination will be the only option in 30 years. Suspects are: weakeners in plastics or pesticides in water
We are confronted with degradation of DNA, increase of cancer frequencies and risks, effects of endocrine disruptors on the hormonal system and we DO NOT KNOW THE CAUSES, especially not enough about the role and importance of long term effects of low concentrations of chemicals

8. What is to be done?
More independent scientific research to understand better the mechanisms behind the unknown threathening effects: increase of cancer, decrease of fertility, degradation of human DNA etc.. The outcomes will also bring important expertise about the potential contribution of agrochemicals
Faster implementation of programs as IPM
Promotion of organic agriculture
BUT, for the agenda of today:
Acceleration in the elimination of persistent organic pollutants, chemicals with sufficient prove of being harmful, but that are still present in our environment, and have their negative effects, known since 1962, are banned since (DDT), under a specific mechanism of the Stockholm convention, in force since and no defined target date for their elimination!