2019-06-17

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

Team members

Wojciech Cieśla

Wojciech Ciesla (Poland) is member of Investigate Europe team.

Wojciech Cieśla

Kristof Clerix

Kristof Clerix works as an investigative journalist for the Belgian weekly magazine Knack.

Kristof Clerix

Staffan Dahllöf

Staffan Dahllöf is a freelance reporter based in Copenhagen, specialised in FOI.

Staffan Dahllöf - ©Olle Asp

Anuška Delić

Anuška Delić is a founder and editor-in-chief at Oštro (Slovenia).

Anuška Delić

Pamela G. Dempsey

Pamela G. Dempsey, (US), is the programme director at Knight Lab

Eiliv Frich Flydal

Eiliv Frich Flydal, (Norway), is an investigative journalist at Dagbladet / db.no.

Stéphane Horel

Stéphane Horel (France) is an investigative journalist at Le Monde.

Stéphane Horel

Oluf Jørgensen

Oluf Jørgensen is a Danish expert in FOI, affiliated with Investigative Reporting Denmark.

Nils Mulvad

Nils Mulvad is an investigative journalist, affiliated with Investigative Reporting Denmark. 

Marcos García Rey

Marcos García Rey (Spain), is a reporter with El Confidencial.

Louise Voller

Louise Voller (Denmark) is a senior investigative journalist at Danwatch.

Brant Houston

Brant Houston (US) is the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois.

Brant Houston

Jesper Nymark

Jesper Nymark (Denmark) is the executive director & editor at Danwatch. 

Jesper Nymark
Supported
€14.500 allocated on 20/09/2018
ID
ECB/2018/OSF3/457

PRINT, ONLINE

IMPACT

need resources for your own investigative story?

Journalismfund Europe's flexible grants programmes enable journalists to produce relevant public interest stories with a European mind-set from international, national, and regional perspectives.

Apply

support independent cross-border investigative journalism

We rely on your support to continue the work that we do. Make a gift of any amount today.

Donate