The current European Union Directive for authorising pesticides (Directive 91/414/EEC for the placing of plant protection products in the EU market) is totally inadequate to prevent the
increasing health threats to the people in Europe, and in particular vulnerable groups such as children, women of child bearing age, pregnant women and socio-economically deprived groups. The current proposal to revise Directive 91/414/EEC and the proposal for a new Directive to address the use phase of
pesticides are concrete opportunities to put human health ahead of agricultural considerations and to apply the precautionary
principle.