Belgium is by far the largest exporter of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide whose use is banned by the European Union over the risks it poses to fetuses and newborns, Le Soir and Knack report. Of the 367,000 litres planned Belgian exports, 313,000 were from a single company based in Liège, the Arysta LifeScience Benelux.
The Belgian company is a subsidiary of Indian multinational UPL and operates in the Walloon municipality of Ougrée. Figures show that they are largely responsible for making Belgium the largest exporter of the illegal pesticide chlorpyrifos.
Despite the European Commission banning its use over three years ago, exporting the pesticide is not illegal but "immoral" – according to Greenpeace. Various environmental organisations have stated that chlorpyrifos, which is mainly used to protect combat aphids and caterpillars, is a public health risk.
In 2012, research published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health showed that exposure to chlorpyrifos affected fetal growth, which would impact the height and weight of newborn babies. These problems are even more widespread in developing countries, to which Belgium massively supplies the pesticide.
The report showed that two-thirds of Belgian exports went to lower-income countries "where personal protective equipment against highly hazardous pesticides is either not available or remains unused," according to the FPS Public Health. In Africa especially, exposure to such toxic pesticides has become a massive problem with the CNRS researcher Moritz Hunsmann telling Le Soir that the continent is experiencing "a slow-motion health disaster".
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When asked to react to these findings, Arysta LifeScience Benelux remained mum on their exports while stating that their parent company UPL "respects Belgian and European laws and regulations." Nonetheless, they will now face a push from Belgian politicians to ban the export of dangerous pesticides.
Belgium's Public Health and Environmental Ministers Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) and Zakia Khattabi (Ecolo), part of the Flemish social democratic and green party respectively, have proposed a decree which would ban Belgian exports of certain dangerous substances, including chlorpyrifos, to non-EU countries.
However, their proposal has not yet been backed by Belgium's Agricultural Minister David Clarinval of the French-speaking liberal party MR. A spokesperson for the minister told The Brussels Time that he was awaiting the three regions' opinions on the issue, while also holding out for a potential European decision on exporting the pesticide.
Clarinval had himself recently come under the limelight of environmental activists, after being sued by two organisations. They accused him of allowing the Indoxacarb insecticide to be used in Belgium, despite a European ban on the pesticide. Moreover, a European court ruled that the EU27 Member States are not allowed to exempt themselves from the European pesticide ban.
