{ "abstract": "The European Union (EU) has one of the most comprehensive systems for risk assessment of pesticides. However, pesticides continue to cause ecological damage and pose risks to human health (1). Additionally, regulatory assessments are often delayed, slowing the market entry of new substances (2). To address such delays and simplify procedures and requirements for pesticide marketing, the European Commission proposed an “Omnibus Simplification package” on food and feed safety on 16 December 2025. Here, we explain how implementing the Omnibus package would amplify rather than resolve shortcomings of current environmental risk assessment. This would jeopardize the Omnibus’s goal to maintain high standards for the protection of human and environmental health, as well as the EU’s long-term environmental objectives and international commitments to restore ecosystems. We provide actionable recommendations for improving environmental risk assessment for stronger biodiversity protection while limiting regulatory burden.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany", "Ecologic Institute, Berlin, Germany", "Department of Environmental and Geosciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden", "Department of Exposure Science, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany", "Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany", "Centre for Agri-Environmental Research (CAER), School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, Reading University, Reading, UK", "Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK", "iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany", "Laboratory of Zoology, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium", "Institute of Mathematics, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany", "School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK", "Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany", "Department of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany", "Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Lund University, Lund, Sweden", "Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden", "Faculty of Biology, Ecotoxicology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany", "Research Center One Health Ruhr, University Alliance Ruhr, Essen, Germany", "German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany", "Institute for Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany", "Department of Biodiversity and People, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany", "Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden", "Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China", "State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China", "Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy", "Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden", "Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark", "Department of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy", "Université de Bourgogne Europe, Institut Agro Dijon, INRAE, UMR Agroécologie, Dijon, France", "Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden" ], "article_type": null, "arxiv": null, "author_total": 35, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Dimitry Wintermantel", "orcid": "0000-0001-6309-6319" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Denicia Kassie", "orcid": "0009-0002-1326-2176" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Lindsey Hendricks‐Franco", "orcid": "0000-0001-6761-6617" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Jessica Knapp", "orcid": "0000-0001-8829-8486" }, { "affs": [ 3, 4 ], "name": "Annika Jahnke", "orcid": "0000-0001-7815-151X" }, { "affs": [ 5 ], "name": "Tom D. Breeze", "orcid": "0000-0002-8929-8354" }, { "affs": [ 6 ], "name": "Mark J. F. Brown", "orcid": "0000-0002-8887-3628" }, { "affs": [ 7 ], "name": "Carsten A. Brühl" }, { "affs": [ 8 ], "name": "Justine Dewaele", "orcid": "0000-0001-5777-7249" }, { "affs": [ 8 ], "name": "Manon Fiévet", "orcid": "0009-0007-5800-9736" }, { "affs": [ 9 ], "name": "Andreas Focks", "orcid": "0000-0002-9031-0808" }, { "affs": [ 8 ], "name": "Antoine Gekière", "orcid": "0000-0001-5337-1305" }, { "affs": [ 10 ], "name": "Dave Goulson", "orcid": "0000-0003-4421-2876" }, { "affs": [ 11 ], "name": "Gregor Hagedorn", "orcid": "0000-0001-7023-7386" }, { "affs": [ 12 ], "name": "Timo Huelsduenker" }, { "affs": [ 13 ], "name": "Claudia Ituarte‐Lima", "orcid": "0000-0002-4901-0950" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Alexandra‐Maria Klein", "orcid": "0000-0003-2139-8575" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Alicia Kling" }, { "affs": [ 14 ], "name": "Joachim R. de Miranda" }, { "affs": [ 8 ], "name": "Denis Michez", "orcid": "0000-0001-8880-1838" }, { "affs": [ 15, 16 ], "name": "Paul N. Ozoh", "orcid": "0009-0003-8997-7677" }, { "affs": [ 17, 18 ], "name": "Robert J. Paxton", "orcid": "0000-0003-2517-1351" }, { "affs": [ 19, 17 ], "name": "Guy Pe’er", "orcid": "0000-0002-7090-0560" }, { "affs": [ 5 ], "name": "Simon Geoffrey Potts", "orcid": "0000-0002-2045-980X" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Antonia Riedel" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Josselin J. Rouillard", "orcid": "0000-0002-1070-5325" }, { "affs": [ 20 ], "name": "Maj Rundlöf", "orcid": "0000-0003-3014-1544" }, { "affs": [ 15, 16 ], "name": "Ralf Bernhard Schäfer", "orcid": "0000-0003-3510-1701" }, { "affs": [ 4, 21, 22 ], "name": "Andreas Schäffer" }, { "affs": [ 23 ], "name": "Fabio Sgolastra", "orcid": "0000-0002-2845-8297" }, { "affs": [ 24 ], "name": "Daniel Slunge", "orcid": "0000-0002-6219-3376" }, { "affs": [ 25 ], "name": "Christopher John Topping", "orcid": "0000-0003-0874-7603" }, { "affs": [ 26 ], "name": "Simone Tosi", "orcid": "0000-0001-8193-016X" }, { "affs": [ 27 ], "name": "Adam J. Vanbergen", "orcid": "0000-0001-8320-5535" }, { "affs": [ 28 ], "name": "Julia Osterman", "orcid": "0000-0002-9142-3580" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0y32ctc5zte62.bib", "cited_by": 5, "doi": "10.1126/science.aeg8744", "fulltext_url": null, "id": "0y32ctc5zte62", "issns": [ "0036-8075", "0193-4511", "1095-9203" ], "landing_url": "https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05678718v1", "language": "en", "licence": "CC-BY-4.0", "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0", "licence_source": "article", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "hal", "0.sdv" ], [ "openalex", "1106|Agricultural safety and regulations" ] ], "openalex": "W7165109108", "pdf_url": "https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05678718/document", "pmcid": null, "pmid": "42313912", "published": "2026-06-18", "publisher": "American Association for the Advancement of Science", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0y32ctc5zte62.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:36Z", "native_id": "hal-05678718", "source": "hal", "url": "https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05678718v1" }, { "first_seen": "2026-11-08T13:20:45Z", "native_id": "W7165109108", "source": "openalex", "url": "https://hdl.handle.net/2318/2165850" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "biology", "origin": "hal:0.sdv", "subfield": "general" } ], "title": "EU Omnibus proposal increases pesticide risks", "title_text": "EU Omnibus proposal increases pesticide risks", "type": "preprint", "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:45Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0y32ctc5zte62", "venue": "HAL", "versions": [] }