Europe wants imports held to its own pesticide rules

More than $1 billion in Canadian agricultural exports could be in jeopardy if the European Union proceeds with proposed pesticide bans, according to a new report.

In its Vision for Agriculture and Food, the European Commission set the objective that the most hazardous pesticides banned in the EU for health and environmental reasons should not enter the market through imported products either.

The commission asked its Joint Research Centre (JRC) to study the potential economic impacts of reducing maximum residue levels for those 18 pesticides to effectively zero on imported products.

The JRC determined that would involve 235 commodities from 86 exporting countries.