Mals - The Pesticide-Free Town
What do a pharmacist, a nursery school teacher and an architect all have in common? They all became unlikely activists in the historic case of the first pesticide-free town.
Mals, Italy, has long been known as the breadbasket of the Tyrol. But recently the tiny town became known for something else entirely.
A PRECAUTIONARY TALE (http://www.chelseagreen.com/a-precaut...)
A Precautionary Tale tells us why, introducing readers to an unlikely group of activists and a forward-thinking mayor who came together to ban pesticides in Mals by a referendum vote—making it the first place on Earth to accomplish such a feat, and a model for other towns and regions to follow.
For hundreds of years, the people of Mals had cherished their traditional foodways and kept their local agriculture organic. Their town had become a mecca for tourists drawn by the alpine landscape, the rural and historic character of the villages, and the fine breads, wines, cheeses, herbs, vegetables, and the other traditional foods they produced. Yet Mals is located high up in the eastern Alps, and the valley below was being steadily overtaken by big apple producers, heavily dependent on pesticides. As Big Apple crept further and further up the region’s mountainsides, their toxic spray drifted with the valley’s ever-present winds and began to fall on the farms and fields of Mals—threatening their organic certifications, as well as their health and that of their livestock.
The advancing threats gradually motivated a diverse cast of characters to take action—each in their own unique way, and then in concert in an iconic display of direct democracy in action. As Ackerman-Leist recounts their uprising, we meet an organic dairy farmer who decides to speak up when his hay is poisoned by drift; a pediatrician who engaged other medical professionals to protect the soil, water, and air that the health of her patients depends upon; a hairdresser whose salon conversations mobilized the town’s women in an extraordinarily conceived campaign; and others who together orchestrated one of the rare revolutionary successes of our time and inspired a movement now snaking its way through Europe and the United States.
This amazing footage of Mals was provided by the mayor's office
In 2014, Mals, a German-speaking town of 5,300 inhabitants in the north of Italy, became the first community in the world to hold a referendum on pesticide use. The result was a landslide: 75% voted for a ban. But how did this small town triumph over the powerful pesticide industry?
In this series we are exploring the value of regulation in protecting people and planet. We have travelled across Europe to meet real people fighting to protect the things they cherish, using – or calling for – regulation to help their struggle. In this episode, we see how the people of Mals used the precautionary principle planned for by EU law to go beyond basic pesticide safety standards and introduced a law banning pesticides.
The people of Mals used EU laws to justify a ban on pesticide use.
“I think it is on us to preserve and to regulate our world”
– Margit Gasser, member of Hollawint
The treaty underpinning the EU aims to ensure the highest level of environmental protection by taking the ‘prevention is better than cure’ approach. This precautionary principle allows laws to be passed on the basis of potential, but unknown, risks.
This extends to the EU law covering pesticide use. So the people of Mals made use of these laws. It paid off in 2016, when Mayor Uli Veith introduced a de facto ban on pesticides.
However, the story is not yet over. Fast-forward to 2018, and the town is facing significant backlash from big industrial farming trade unions and the pesticide industry. The decision has been legally challenged multiple times and four years after the referendum, the people’s decision to ban pesticides hasn’t been implemented because of court delays.
Partners:
Learn more:
The market worth of the pesticide industry is $50billion [The Guardian]
Read the book of the Mals story, ‘A Precautionary Tale’ by Philip Ackerman-Leist
Watch the documentary ‘Wunder von Mals’ by Alexander Schiebel's -
1 in 7 apples grown in Europe are produced in South Tyrol
Keep up to date with Hollawint!
Johannes Hans developed a weekly newsletter (that is mostly in German). If you would like to receive it please email hans@perting.com
Keep up to date with the growing movement for pesticide-free towns by following PAN Europe’s campaign
Special thanks to: Philip Ackerman-Leist, Koen Hertoge