Dr Angeliki Lysimachou, Head of Science and Policy at Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, examines systemic failures in EU pesticide risk assessment that prioritise industry data over independent science. With a background in environmental toxicology, she scrutinises how regulatory loopholes—such as selective dismissal of genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, microbiome disruption, and low-dose carcinogenicity studies—enable the continued authorisation of hazardous substances like glyphosate despite IARC’s probable carcinogen classification and alarming findings from the Ramazzini Institute’s full-life-cycle trials showing increased leukaemia and tumours at supposedly safe exposure levels. Lysimachou highlights how corporate influence, ghostwriting, revelations from the Monsanto Papers, and statistical manoeuvering by conflicted experts undermine the precautionary principle embedded in EU law, resulting in “glyphosate deserts,” biodiversity collapse, and persistent PFAS metabolites like TFA contaminating groundwater for decades. Her analysis reveals a deeper structural bias where economic dependencies on pesticide fees, political pressures from member states, and industry lobbying trump public health protections, as evidenced by repeated 5- and 10-year renewals amid abstentions and U-turns like Germany’s. By mounting court challenges and pushing for agroecological transitions under the Farm to Fork strategy, she exposes how the current framework shields profitable broad-spectrum herbicides while externalising long-term costs of soil degradation, farmer health burdens (e.g. elevated lymphoma risks), and irreversible environmental damage onto society. Lysimachou’s critique underscores the tension between regulatory rhetoric and implementation, calling for genuine accountability and faster phase-outs of forever chemicals.

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