RIVM today advises the ministry to make the European admission requirements stricter.
Better testing
“I was very happy with this report. Parkinson’s is the fastest growing brain disease in the world. And we also know that pesticides play a role in this.”
The RIVM calls on mice to test, but this needs to be much more specific. And Bloem thinks so too.
Supermarkets
The evidence that pesticides cause brain diseases is overwhelming, says Bloem. “It is impossible to say whether the current drugs caused brain diseases, but I think you should rule out that it causes disease.”
“We know from several studies that farmers run a higher risk of Parkinson’s. And local residents also run a higher risk. And that eventually ends up in the supermarkets via the food chain.”
Two or three years
“A number of substances have already been banned, but other pesticides have never been specifically tested for Parkinson’s, for example, while that disease is growing rapidly around the world.”
Bloem would prefer to see a total ban on pesticides, but he thinks that within 2 or 3 years it will be possible to investigate which pesticides are involved and which specific rules are needed. “We have to make sure that farmers can carry out their work safely.”
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