Today, 28 May 2026, we celebrate the 44th anniversary of the establishment of Pesticide Action Network (PAN). Since PAN’s founding in 1982 Malaysia, PAN has worked across borders and movements to challenge the harms caused by pesticides, especially highly hazardous pesticides, expose corporate and regulatory failures, advance agroecological alternatives, and defend the right of all people to healthy, just, ecologically vibrant and climate-resilient food and farming systems worldwide.
Over the past four decades, our global network has grown into a movement comprising over 600 autonomous civil society organisations, institutions, grassroots communities and individuals in more than 90 countries, and has achieved meaningful progress. Throughout this time, we have been proud to support communities in securing national, regional and international bans on some of the world’s most dangerous pesticides, such as Chlorpyrifos, which was recently banned at the 2025 Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Convention COPs. Awareness of the links between pesticides, highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs), biodiversity loss, climate change and public health has grown dramatically. Consequently, agroecology and farmer-led solutions are increasingly recognised as vital for achieving resilient food systems.
Yet the power of multinational agrochemical and biotech corporations has continued to grow, as has the overall use of synthetic pesticides. There has been a dramatic increase in vertical control of the food and farm sector, along with disturbing levels of risk to human and ecosystem health. Three mega-corporations now control 60% of the global seed market and 70% of the global pesticide market. Consequently, we are witnessing aggressive and alarming attempts to undermine global regulations and dismantle fundamental health and environmental protections.
As we mark this 44th anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to transforming food systems for a future that is healthy, just, ecologically vibrant and climate-resilient. We will continue to take concerted action to promote sustainable agriculture as a holistic scientific approach and a movement for social transformation that upholds local knowledge, respects indigenous cultures and integrates participatory research and the empowerment of women and farmers. We will also continue to fight for local, national and international agreements that restrict, reduce and eliminate dependence on pesticides, and that phase out and ban those that cause acute and chronic effects, including endocrine disruption and cancer.
We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this movement over the past 44 years, as well as those who will help shape the years ahead. Together, we will continue to build a world in which food production protects health, sustains livelihoods and respects the planet for future generations and regions.
Sarojeni Rengam, Executive Director at PAN Asia-Pacific highlighted: ‘At its 44th anniversary, PANAP affirms that banning and phasing out highly hazardous pesticides in the Asia-Pacific is not only necessary, but achievable through the collective power of women, farmers, agricultural workers, and Indigenous peoples’ movements. Building on this, we commit to advancing people-led agroecology to dismantle toxic, corporate-driven food systems with the leadership of these communities, while pushing for policies that decisively end pesticide dependence and advance ecological and climate justice’.
Susan Haffmans, Senior Adviser at PAN Germany added: ‘PAN shines a light where others look away: on the devastating impacts of highly hazardous pesticides, on the suffering endured by children, women, and men affected by pesticide poisoning, and on the contamination of natural resources and ecosystems. Working in global solidarity, PAN brings together experts from science, agriculture, food systems, education, and policy to advance sustainable solutions. By promoting non-chemical alternatives for plant protection and pest management, and by challenging double standards that undermine human rights, PAN is helping drive the transition toward a healthier, more just, and sustainable future.”
Javier Souza Casadinho, regional coordinator of the Latin American Pesticide Action Network (PAN Latin America), noted, ‘Food systems are dominated by a handful of companies that control everything from inputs, such as pesticides and fertilizers, to the final processed goods. This is a dependent and polluting system. We must transform this system to return to producing healthy food. Farmers have developed agroecological strategies, practices, and technologies that protect soil and water and enable food production in healthy territories and communities free from dangerous agrochemicals’.
Kayla Nichols, Director of Communications of the Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, North America (PANNA), noted, ‘At this critical moment, as we celebrate 44 years of incredible work at the global level, PANNA stands in solidarity with our international partners in the face of corporate corruption, food system consolidation, and environmental catastrophe. We know that in order to secure our collective vision for safe, resilient, and just food systems, we must confront the billionaire class and demand food sovereignty, while elevating farmer and farmworker-led agroecological solutions to the forefront.’
Editors’ Notes:
PAN International; Pesticide Action Network (PAN) is a network of over 600 participating nongovernmental organizations, institutions and individuals in over 90 countries working to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. PAN was founded in 1982 and has five independent, collaborating Regional Centers that implement its projects and campaigns. https://pan-international.org/
For further information please contact: