Munich’s environmental institute, theUmweltinstitut, put up a poster in the city’s subway station in 2017 to bring to everyone’s attention the massive use of pesticides in apple orchards (1) in the Vinschgau Valley. The councillor for agriculture in South Tyrol denounced the institute, but the process turned against him and allowed environmentalists to get hold of records on pesticide use by farms.
The court case
The Munich-based Independent Institute for the Environment in 2017 put up a satirical ‘Pesticide Tyrol‘ poster to make people aware of the massive use of pesticides in South Tyrol’s apple crops.
The action did not sit well with South Tyrol’s provincial agriculture councillor Arnold Schuler, who filed criminal charges against the Institute for slander against agriculture and trademark infringement – the poster satirically captures the South Tyrol logo used on tourism billboards.
Data on pesticides sprayed in the Vinschgau Valley.
The whistleblowers’ willingness to intimidate and hide the truth was clear, and the environmentalists immediately found support from associations and citizens across Europe against what has been called a SLAPP, Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation. (2) Under intense public pressure, Schuler and the 1375 companies that had supported the lawsuit withdrew the complaints one after another until the trial was concluded in January 2022. (3)
But the damage was done by then. The Bolzano prosecutor’s office seized the companies’ spray books as evidence for the trial. The environmental institute thus came into possession of the information of about 681 companies out of the 1375. Although it is mandatory to keep such records, they are not regularly checked or published.
Not a single day without pesticides
From the information gathered, activists reconstructed that from March to September 2017, not a day passed in the Vinschgau Valley without pesticides being sprayed in orchards. Nearly a quarter of the active ingredients in used plant protection products are considered particularly harmful. Penconazole, fluazinam and phosmet, classified as ‘suspected to be harmful to reproduction,’ and bupirimate and captan, considered ‘probably carcinogenic,’ were used.
Glyphosate could not be missed. (4) Although it is known to be dangerous, it is still the most widely used active ingredient in herbicides. Ninety percent of the companies evaluated used it to control weeds. Alone, herbicides accounted for 10 percent of all applications made by farmers despite the fact that weeding is not necessary in apple orchards. In fact, there are less impactful mechanized methods to combat weeds. (5)
The so-called ‘ cocktaileffect’
Up to nine chemical agents were sprayed at the same time. (5) This is referred to as the ‘ cocktaileffect’ in this case. Although the chemicals are each used according to legal limits, we still do not know precisely what the effects on human health and the environment are of the accumulation of these substances.
New analytical techniques, however, have detected alterations to the gut-liver axis in guinea pigs exposed to a mix of phytochemicals. (6) In a 2021 study, it was seen that the coexistence of multiple pesticides in the soil can compromise its biodiversity. (7)
The difficulty of doing organic in the Vinschgau Valley
In South Tyrol, orchards follow one another seamlessly. They cover about 18 thousand hectares for a 2021 production of 935 thousand tons of apples. (3) Pesticides are sprayed on the canopies, creating clouds that roam the Vinschgau Valley and even reach the mountain peaks: residues have even been found in glaciers at 1,800 meters above sea level. (8) Doing organic in the midst of so many conventional orchards is not easy, as the case of the Gluderer family shows.
Pesticide residues have been found in their organic herbs. (9) When they asked their neighbors to take precautions, they were insulted and threatened, as Urban and Annemarie Gluderer-the Italian spokesperson for European Citizens to Save Bees and Farmers-told the German magazine Süddeutsche Zeitung. To protect their crops and their health, they have had to surround their farm with two-meter-high plastic sheeting, an expensive solution that denies the view toward the paradise that South Tyrol is supposed to be. The solution for the family was to establish a business at an altitude of 1,400 meters. (8)
The perfect apple
The massive use of pesticides is justified by farmers and wholesalers on the grounds that large retailers and end customers want a perfect product. Big, shiny, perfect apples all the same. Many of the pesticides used are not to protect the plant but to make the apple aesthetically beautiful. Ninety percent of the 681 companies reportedly used growth regulators in their orchards, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung and broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Dithianon, bupirimate, and captan have been used to combat apple scab and powdery mildew, two fungal diseases that do not, however, affect either apple quality or human health. (10) Perhaps, Reg. (EU) 2019/428 on size and appearance of fruits and vegetables should also be revised. Massive use of unnecessary pollutants and loss of quality food would be avoided.
Alessandra Mei
Notes
(1) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Apples, grapes, pears. Too many pesticide residues in food. Legambiente report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 25.12.2020
(2) Marta Strinati. Liberté only in words, even in France it is censorship. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.10.2021
(3) Umweltinstitut München. Wegen Pestizidkritik auf der Anklagebank. https://umweltinstitut.org/ueber-uns/pestizidprozess/
(4) Marta Strinati. Not just glyphosate. 33% of pesticides used in EU lack risk assessment. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.11.2022
(5) Fabian Holzheid. Pestizide im Vinschgauer Apfelanbau. Umweltinstitut München. https://umweltinstitut.org/landwirtschaft/projekt-spritzdaten-aus-dem-vinschgauer-apfelanbau/
(6) Robin Mesnage, Maxime Teixeira, Daniele Mandrioli, Laura Falcioni, Quinten Raymond Ducarmon, Romy Daniëlle Zwittink, Caroline Amiel, Jean-Michel Panoff, Emma Bourne, Emanuel Savage, Charles A Mein, Fiorella Belpoggi, Michael N Antoniou. (2021) Multi-omics phenotyping of the gut-liver axis allows health risk predictability from in vivo subchronic toxicity tests of a low-dose pesticide mixture in rats. Commun Biol 4, 471. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01990-w
(7) Fiona HM Tang and Federico Maggi (2021). Pesticide mixtures in soil: a global outlook. Environ. Res. Lett. 16 044051 DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/abe5d6 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abe5d6
(8) Von Uwe Ritzer. Der einsame Kampf einer Bauernfamilie. Süddeutsche Zeitung. 25.1.2021. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/wirtschaft/pestizide-suedtirol-aepfel-e237260/?reduced=true You can find the translated article in issue 1502 of International, 10.3.2023
(9) Dario Dongo, The drift effect of pesticides on bees, trees and plants away from cropland. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 21.12.2020
(10) Von Uwe Ritzer, Natalie Sablowski. Apfel-Kosmetik für die Verbraucher. Süddeutsche Zeitung. 25.1.2023. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/wirtschaft/pestizide-suedtirol-aepfel-handel-e576423/?reduced=true You can find the translated article in issue 1502 of Internazionale, 10.3.2023.
Graduated in Law from the University of Bologna, she attended the Master in Food Law at the same University. You participate in the WIISE srl benefit team by dedicating yourself to European and international research and innovation projects.
