Health protection and crop profitability in the placing of plant protection products on the market: a “shifting” balance between opposing interests

The regulations on plant protection products have to reckon with the protection of different and sometimes, opposing interests: the balance drawn up in Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, which aims to ensure that the authorization of active substances is compatible with the protection of human and animal health and the environment, without jeopardizing crop profitability, is counterbalanced by the application of the principles of integrated pest management laid down in Directive 2009/128/EC. This balance has been rethought in recent years, not only in the light of events concerning the dangerousness of certain products as, for example, in the case of glyphosate or neonicotinoids but also of the renewed focus on the environmental sustainability of the latest 2023 2027 CAP and Green Deal, laying the foundations for a broader reflection on the balancing of interests at stake in the regulation and the role played, in this context, by the European and national legislators.