Authorization Process Contributing to Decline in Insects

Research findings that RWTH has cooperated on have been published in the Environmental Sciences Europe journal.

Researchers are calling for the pesticide authorization process to be revised. This demand is based on a study which RWTH’s Chair of Environmental Biology and Chemodynamics as well as the Research Institute for Ecosystem Analysis and Assessment were involved in. The findings have now been published in the article Future Pesticide Risk Assessment: Narrowing the Gap Between Intention and Reality in the Environmental Sciences Europe journal.

"The current authorization process falls short of environmental standard targets and is contributing to a decline in insects and biodiversity. In order to improve the authorization process, we have to consider the situation of the ecosystems and agricultural practices to a greater extent," says Professor Andreas Schäffer, head of RWTH’s Chair of Environmental Biology and Chemodynamics.

The researchers want to see the implementation of stricter safety factors, comparisons between new pesticides and more environmentally friendly alternatives, as well as a cost-benefit analysis of the new products. In addition, the current authorization procedure should soon be replaced by one that is limited in time and space, where the effects on the environment can be investigated under application conditions in selected areas.

In the long-term, researchers want to remind us of the importance of harmonizing the different regulations regarding water pollution control, plant protection, and nature conservation.
Editorial by: Press and Communications