We are sad to pass on news of the death of our long-term Trustee, Professor Anthony Youdeowei. Born in Nigeria in 1937, he qualified as an entomologist at the University of Ibadan, then in 1967 gained a PhD in Agricultural Entomology at the University of London. Returning to Nigeria, he [...]
The results of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count are in. The sunniest spring and hottest summer ever recorded in the UK provided good weather conditions for butterflies after 2024’s record-breaking lows. However, the results from the Big Butterfly Count show that it was definitely not a bumper summer for our beleaguered [...]
by Dr May van Schalkwyk, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention and the Global Health Policy Unit at the University of Edinburgh. *Warning: This article discusses suicidal behaviour. If you have questions on self-harm or feel suicidal, use this link to find an international helpline.* The study of [...]
The results from the largest ever UK-wide survey on pesticide use by local authorities in public spaces launched today. It provides the most comprehensive picture of urban pesticide use by local councils in the UK to date. PAN UK received responses to Freedom of Information requests from 368 town, city, [...]
Written by Barbara Dinham, a long-time friend, colleague and former Director of PAN UK. Dorothy Myers, who died aged 88 in May 2025, was a pioneering environmentalist who played an influential role in pesticide policies over the last 40 years. She was a founder of Pesticide Action Network UK (established [...]
Hello, I’m Ella, the ‘new’ Supermarkets Campaigner here at PAN UK. It’s been six months since I started this position – on one hand I can hardly believe it’s been that long and on the other it feels like I’ve been here forever. I remember the moment I got a [...]
by Dr Bruna Rubbo, Research Fellow, University of Bristol *Warning: This article discusses suicidal behaviour. If you have questions on self-harm or feel suicidal, use this link to find an international helpline.* Having worked in the field of clinical and environmental epidemiology, and in pesticide exposure more specifically, I’ve long been interested in [...]
by Dr Trevor Dines As a botanist, I very much view the world from the roots up. In urban landscapes, I’m particularly obsessed with urban cliffs – or ‘walls’ as some people call them – where a multitude of ferns, mosses and flowering plants eke out a living in the [...]
Council workers and contractors across the UK are currently spraying the weeds on our pavements, parks, playgrounds and other public green spaces with toxic herbicides. Author and artist, Anna Chapman Parker, provides us with a glimpse of the under-appreciated beauty being lost. Not only are pavement plants vital in supporting [...]
By Felipe Muñoz, Postdoctoral Researcher, Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de O'Higgins Recent research from our team at the Universidad de O'Higgins in Chile suggests concerning evidence that pesticide exposure could potentially affect hearing - even for those who simply live near agricultural areas. While previous studies have focused [...]
PAN UK is delighted with this week’s reset deal which commits the UK to following EU existing and future pesticide standards. While far from perfect, the EU’s pesticide standards are the strongest in the world in terms of protecting human health and the environment, and the UK played a seminal [...]
PAN UK is delighted to welcome Jonathan Worthy-Pauling as our new Director. He brings with him a strong background in developing, growing and nurturing an organisation that will build on PAN UK’s work and influence. Jonathan’s background in food poverty will add huge value to the teams in PAN UK whose [...]
The inaugural conference on Integrated Weed Management for the Amenity Sector is to be hosted by Kersten UK on Thursday 5th June in Birmingham’s Highbury Hall. The conference couldn’t be more prescient with the publishing of the National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan in February and the new Pesticides National [...]
PAN UK will shortly join colleagues from PAN International in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions – the ‘BRS COPS’ – where important decisions on a range of hazardous pesticides are on the table. The Stockholm Convention is focused on persistent [...]
Cotton is an important crop in Tanzania, with over half-a-million households relying on cotton cultivation for their primary source of income. A new study, published in Toxics, reveals significant levels of pesticide poisoning among Tanzanian smallholder cotton growers following occupational exposure to highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs). Of the 1,074 cotton [...]
The 6th edition of the Chocolate Scorecard has ranked Tony’s Chocolonely and Ritter Sport as among the most sustainable chocolate companies in the world. Run by Be Slavery Free, the scorecard ranks companies based on traceability and transparency across supply chains, whether they pay farmers a living income, efforts to [...]
We are pleased that the UK Government has today announced the UK’s first ever pesticide reduction target of 10%. While we had hoped for a higher percentage, the adoption of a target, which takes into account both how much of a pesticide is used and how toxic it is, is [...]
Pesticides are causing overwhelming negative effects on hundreds of species of microorganisms, plants, insects, fish, birds and mammals that they are not intended to harm, and globally their use is a major contributor to the biodiversity crisis. That is the finding of the first study assessing the impacts of pesticides [...]
A new study led by researchers from TGen, part of City of Hope and Arizona State University, has identified an association between glyphosate exposure and symptoms of neuroinflammation, as well as accelerated Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology. This study tracks both the presence and impact of glyphosate’s by-products in the brain long after exposure [...]
A study by the University of Sussex, published in Science of the Total Environment, has found that there is a high prevalence of veterinary drugs in bird nests. They analysed 103 blue and great tit nests sent in by volunteers on the Nesting Neighbour Scheme at the British Trust for [...]
