BRUSSELS - Residues of Chlorpyrifos, a dangerous insecticide, have been found in fruit baskets and samples of human urine across Europe. This large, cross-border investigation unveils its risks for the public.
Chlorpyrifos is a chemical that kills insects on growing vegetables and fruit. The series of stories, funded by Journalismfund.eu, uncover its effect on adults and children, the spread of the pesticide in different foods, the legal battle in European Union and the fact that it has been banned in more and more countries, but cannot be completely avoided. At the same time, market analysts predict the market to expand in the next five years.
The important cross-border investigation on chlorpyrifos was initiated by Investigative Reporting Denmark and Danwatch, and was made in collaboration with journalists from Knack in Belgium, Le Monde in France, Dagbladet in Norway, Newsweek in Poland, Ostro in Slovenia, El Confidencial in Spain, and The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting in the United States.
In France, the series uncovered how only one study from Dow looked into the neurotoxicology of chlorpyrifos. The producer has refused to make another despite heavy critics of the study. In Norway, the story focused on the forbidden insecticide found in food all over Europe. In Belgium, the team looked at how widespread the pesticide is in food. In Slovenia, the focus was mostly on the spread of the poison and in Denmark, the team ran a story on how Danes are consuming this forbidden nerve-poison in imported fruit and rice.
Journalismfund supported the following journalists: Wojciech Ciesla (Poland), Staffan Dahllöf (Denmark), Anuška Delić (Slovenia), Nils Mulvad (Denmark) and Jesper Nymark (Denmark).
© Photo: Marcos Garcia Rey
PRINT, ONLINE
- Chlorpyrifos : les dangers ignorés d’un pesticide toxique (Le Monde, 17/06/2019)
- Interdit dans huit pays européens, le pesticide chlorpyrifos traverse les frontières (Le Monde, 17/06/2019)
- Forbudt insektmiddel funnet i mat over hele Europa (Dagbladet, 17/06/2019)
- Kemikaliegigant skjulte hjerneskader i egen undersøgelse – fik sprøjtemiddel godkendt af EU (Danwatch, 17/06/2019)
- Supermarkeder: Grænseværdien for farligt sprøjtemiddel bør sættes ned (Danwatch, 17/06/2019)
- Sådan ender farligt sprøjtemiddel i din mad (Danwatch, 17/06/2019)
- Vi spiser et sprøjtemiddel, der er forbudt i Danmark (Danwatch, 17/06/2019)
- Europa onderzoekt verbod op insectenvergif dat in onze voeding opduikt (Knack, 16/06/2019)
- Jabłko z wkładką. Jesteśmy regularnie podtruwani (Newsweek Poland, 17/06/2019)
- Neznani pesticid v prehranski verigi (Ostro, 17/06/2019)
- Vsa živila s sledmi klorpirifosa ali klorpirifos-metila (2013—2018) (Ostro, 17/06/2019)
- The most dangerous pesticide you've never heard of (EUObserver, 17/06/2019
- Clorpirifós: uno de los pesticidas más peligrosos lo tienes en tu plato y en tu cuerpo (El Confidencial, 17/06/2019)
- La UE prohibirá en 2020 el pesticida más usado en España por su peligro para la salud (El Confidencial, 17/06/2019)
- Los expertos hablan sobre el clorpirifós: "No debemos jugar más a la ruleta rusa" (El Confidencial, 17/06/2019)
- Producenten skjulte hjerneskader i egen undersøgelse - fik middel godkendt af EU (Deo.dk, 18/06/2019)
IMPACT
- EU experts agree pesticide may damage unborn children - EU Observer, 5 August 2019
- Chlorpyrifos banned by the EU - Investigative Reporting Denmark, 6 December 2019
- Corteva to stop making pesticide linked to kids' health problems, Reuters, 6 February 2020.
- Milieuagentschap in de VS bant pesticide gelinkt aan hersenschade bij kinderen, Mondiaal Nieuws, 21 August 2021
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