Judge bans Limburg lily grower from using pesticides due to health risks | Domestic

Many pesticides are often used in lily cultivation. There is a link between its use and serious neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s in adults and prenatal developmental disorders in children, the judge states. This is evident from reports from the Health Council and the RIVM and from international studies.

Residents of the grower in Sevenum therefore went to court. They fear damage to their health and that of their children. The grower wants to grow the lilies right next to a residential area. Some families only live about 10 meters away.

According to the grower, the products, which have been tested and approved, are safe. He also told the judge that he only wants to use the field for about six months over a ten-year period. To accommodate local residents, he has offered, among other things, to create a buffer zone of 50 meters.

But according to the judge, such a strip is not sufficient. A 2019 RIVM study showed that remnants of the drugs were found up to 250 meters away. Not only in the outdoor air, but also in house dust, on doormats and in people’s urine.

The judge ruled in favor of the local residents on Wednesday.

The case in Sevenum is not the first of its kind. Residents of Boterveen in Drenthe went to court last year for a similar case.

The local residents won the case, but the court reached a compromise on appeal. Most of the pesticides remained prohibited, but four types were still permitted.

No sector uses as many pesticides per hectare as (non-organic) ornamental bulb cultivation. The cultivation of lilies and peonies takes the cake in this group.

In the approximately six months that the grower wants to spray the lilies weekly, as much is sprayed as for some other crops in ten years.

Floriculture covered approximately 1.7 percent of agricultural land in October last year. A quarter of the total amount of agricultural poison was used, according to data from statistics agency CBS.

The pesticides also end up in the water. The concentrations in the Netherlands differ greatly per water board. In some places, standards are exceeded a thousandfold.