Special Rapporteurs call for new treaty on pesticides

The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, and the Special Rapporteur on toxic substances, Baskut Tuncak, called attention to the dangers of pesticides to human health and the environment, and called for a new international treaty to regulate and phase out the use of dangerous pesticides, in a report to the Human Rights Council.  They pointed to research showing that pesticides cause an estimated 200,000 acute poisoning deaths each year. The vast majority of these deaths occur in developing countries.