Swiss Agribusiness wants to be allowed to poison more water. Under pressure from parliamentary lobbyists, the Federal Council is turning a blind eye to toxic substances – contrary to its own objectives.
Switzerland poisons its waters more than it admits. This is the conclusion of a report published last year on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The report was commissioned by the federal government to examine whether the objectives of the Pesticides Action Plan adopted in 2017 are being met. This was adopted by the Federal Council as part of the counter-proposal to the Drinking Water Initiative because “the biologically active substances contained in plant protection products can have undesirable effects on humans, animals and the environment”.
However, the experts have shown that the permissible limits for toxins are exceeded at more than half of the monitoring stations. Almost all small and medium-sized watercourses do not meet the requirements. The interim targets set by the Action Plan for 2027 are therefore still a long way off.
Despite this, the Federal Council and Parliament are not taking tougher action against the use of toxic substances. Parliament recently even decided that Switzerland should adopt the EU’s decisions on the authorisation of pesticides. This was despite clear opposition from water protection experts. Several recent investigations by the Swiss media have shown the strength of the efforts to weaken protection against the use of toxic substances in industrial agriculture.
A discreet farmers’ group in parliament
The newspaper ‘NZZ am Sonntag’ (NZZaS) recently reported that the Federal Council is in favour of a motion tabled by Leo Müller, a centrist member of the National Council from Lucerne. Müller’s motion calls for the approval of a toxic substance to be reviewed only if the limit value is exceeded at 20 per cent of measuring points. At present, a review takes place if this is the case at 10 percent of measuring points. Müller was on the board of Fenaco for many years. The largest agricultural group in Switzerland trades in pesticides.
Müller’s successor on the board is Johanna Gapany, a member of the Fribourg Liberal Party FDP Council of States. As NZZaS research has shown, she and Müller form a discreet group of agribusiness lobbyists in parliament. It includes SVP National Councillor Hans Jörg Rüegsegger, former president of the Bernese Farmers’ Association, his Zurich colleagues Martin Haab and Martin Hübscher, and Bernese SVP National Councillor Katja Riem. In addition to Müller, Riem and Gapany have also recently submitted motions in favour of allowing the use of more toxic substances.
The report also mentions toxic substances for which no limit value has yet been set. Some of them, however, exceed the guideline values for environmental toxins. The toxic insecticide cypermethrin, which kills aphids or Colorado potato beetles, did so 2000 times. Deltamethrin, which exceeded the quality criteria hundreds of times, is also considered particularly toxic. Both substances are generally approved.
The public broadcaster’s SRF programme “Rundschau” reported at the beginning of February that the FOEN actually wanted to introduce limit values for deltamethrin. However, representatives of the agricultural sector opposed this. They feared that the substance would then be banned. This is shown in a document from the official consultation.
