Pesticides and Non-target Arthropods

In recent years EASAC has conducted two comprehensive studies related to the sustainable use of pesticides. The first, in 2015, examined the evidence on the effects of neonicotinoids on agriculture and ecosystem services and informed the Commission’s decision at the time to instruct EFSA to work on honey, bumble and solitary bee pollinators. The second, in 2023, updated the evidence on neonicotinoids and their substitutes, as well as their role in integrated pest management.

On the basis of this work EASAC has addressed a letter to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), commenting on the challenges currently faced by EFSA on developing a new Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) for non-target arthropods. The latter are arthropods which are not targets of a particular insecticide, but nevertheless affected.