Australia’s Blind Eye: Exploring the Nation’s Permissive Stance on Harmful Pesticides

Application of pesticides at the base of the human food chain carries environmental and human health consequences and remains a key challenge for Planetary Health. Analysis of an Australian Government database identified 45 pesticide products used in high volumes (>100 t/year). The international regulatory status of each of these was in turn examined for global benchmarking. The search revealed that 60% of Australia’s high-use pesticides are banned in Europe, and a further 24.4% are approved in Europe but banned in at least one other country. Just 15.6% retain international approval. Exploration of political actors serving to maintain Australia’s permissive stance on harmful pesticides found a two-way stabilizing mechanism. On the one hand, Australia’s risk-based chemical assessment approach to chemical regulation is unable to account for, nor manage, the inherent chemical hazards that remain after the chemical has been released into an open system where biological and biogeochemical interactions cannot be predicted. The process omits the precautionary principle and hereby creates an illusion of managed risk surrounding inherently harmful chemicals. On the other hand, global chemical companies are purportedly delaying registration of modern product alternatives in Australia. Consequently, Australian producers are locked into a continued reliance on harmful pesticides, while chemical companies safeguard a continued market for otherwise unmarketable pesticide products.