Within a few months, a so-called substantive case must be filed regarding the publication of spraying data of pesticide users. The Council of State promised this today during an emergency case in The Hague.
This is a sensitive subject with potentially far-reaching consequences for farmers who spray their crops or (lily) bulbs with crop protection products. Last January, the Northern Netherlands court ordered the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN) in two rulings to collect and make public all spraying data from users (usually farmers).
The Groningen administrative judge thus largely accommodated the Meten=Weten association and residents of a lily bulb field in Dwingeloo-Lhee.
If the Council of State later ratifies these rulings in a so-called substantive ruling, farmers must in principle record all details of the pesticides they use in a nationally public register. That is something the State Secretary wants to prevent for various reasons.
He therefore appealed against the Groningen injection judgments and today asked the Council of State judge for a provisional block of the judgments.
But disclosure of the spraying data is exactly what several residents of intensively sprayed cultivation fields and fields around Dwingeloo and Lhee are aiming for. They were happy with the statements and believe that the State Secretary should take action immediately.
One of the complainants and also supporters (and Meten=Weten lawyers) Henk Baptist and Geert Starre are very concerned about the health of residents living near intensively sprayed fields and breeding fields. The concerns are greatest when lily or other flower bulbs are sprayed near homes or campsites.
Bulb and lily growers often spray various pesticides to prevent damage to the bulbs by fungi, insects and weeds. Local residents and Meten=Weten now finally want to know which pesticides, or combinations thereof, growers are spraying. And also in what quantities.
Only then can scientists and doctors figure out whether and what risks pesticides may pose to public health, say opponents. This is now unclear because pesticide users do not have to say what they use, in what quantities and how often.
According to Geert Starre of Meten=Weten, the Netherlands has long been obliged to collect and publish this type of environmental and emission data based on European regulations and various treaties. According to Starre, the Belgians already do that and the Netherlands has no reason not to do so.
At the end of the hearing, the Judge hinted that he may temporarily suspend the Groningen rulings, because it is a complicated issue that involves many legal, but also European law, snags. For that reason, he promised to put the final substantive case on the Council of State’s hearing agenda as early as possible.
Then there may be a definitive final decision next autumn and everyone will know where they stand. What will happen will become apparent from the emergency ruling within two weeks.
