Certain plant pesticides banned in Switzerland from July

The use of chlorpyrifos is particularly prominent in the growing of citrus fruits such as mandarins and oranges Keystone

Plant pesticides with the active ingredient chlorpyrifos and the variant chlorpyrifos-methyl may no longer be used in Switzerland from July 1, 2020. Until then, their use is permitted under certain conditions. 

Last June the Federal Office for Agriculture banned the use of pesticides containing these active substances from August 1, 2019. It argued that the active substances were extremely toxic to humans, birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, insects and, in particular, all types of bees and bumblebees. 

However, eight manufacturers and distributors of these pesticides appealed to the Federal Administrative Court, which upheld the complaints with suspensive effect. 

The appellants, as well as Greenpeace Switzerland, WWF Switzerland and Federal Office for Agriculture, have now reached an agreement in the context of a judicial conciliation, the Federal Gazette saidExternal link on Tuesday. This stipulates when the ban will apply and how the individual agents can be used until then. 

The affected products are Blocade, Cortilan, OleoRel, Pyrinex and Reldan 22. As of July 1, their use is prohibited for all crops. A complaint can be lodged against this decision within 30 days. 

Chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl will be banned in the European Union from the end of January.