Lowest Common Denominator: How the proposed US-EU trade deal threatens to lower standards of protection from toxic pesticides (January 2015)

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Stronger, more progressive regulations  for the protection of health and the environment are being targeted by  industry for elimination under the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Where stronger laws and  standards have been democratically adopted  or are even proposed—for hazardous pesticides and other chemicals on only one side  of the Atlantic, they have consistently been  cast by industry as trade irritants, to be  eliminated. Due to ongoing public health,  food security and other concerns, several  states of the United States and some Member States of the European Union con tinue to develop and advocate for stronger  controls over the use of pesticides.

Prior to the sixth round of negotiations,  American and European pesticide lobby  groups CropLife America and the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA),  representing the interests of powerhouse  pesticide corporations active on both sides  of the Atlantic, such as BASF, Bayer, Dow,  DuPont, Monsanto, and Syngenta, produced recommendations for TTIP negotiators to consider on regulatory convergence.

This report provides a critical analysis of the CropLife-ECPA proposal for regulatory cooperation under TTIP. It demonstrates the pesticide industry’s actual goal  of increasing trade while increasing the  risk of harm to European and American  citizens. It reveals the extent to which the pesticide industry is willing to go to maximize profits

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