At a meeting of the World Trade Organization’s Goods Council in Geneva last week, more than 100 countries publicly criticized the European Union for imposing unreasonable pesticide regulations on imported goods.

A joint statement released by several countries including the United States, Canada, Brazil and Australia said the EU “ignored requests to complete science-based risk assessments,” before reducing pesticide tolerances. The document also read:

“In order to face the challenge of producing more food in a safer and sustainable way, farmers must be able to access the full range of safe tools and technologies that are available for agricultural production. Yet, our farmers' choice of safe tools is increasingly undermined by regulatory barriers that are not founded on internationally agreed risk analysis. This is already having a substantial negative impact on the production, and trade of, safe food and agricultural products, an impact that is likely to increase in the future.”

Dennis Shea, United States Ambassador to World Trade Organization, released an additional statement saying  “Continued implementation of the EU’s hazard based approach will result in a continued ban of safe tools and technologies essential to feed a growing world population; and thus, carries the potential to undermine food security and sustainable development.”