German chemical giant BASF said on Thursday it would not reapply for EU authorization for some uses of pesticide fipronil, at the heart of a tainted egg scandal that has set member states at odds. The pesticide was only authorized for a small number of applications in treating seeds, it added, making the "high costs" of the registration process uneconomical. The insecticide scandal only became public on August 1st when authorities in the Netherlands ordered eggs pulled from supermarket shelves and urged shoppers to throw any they had away. Contaminated eggs have since been discovered in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and France, with several supermarkets pulling millions of eggs off the shelves. SEE ALSO: Millions of chickens face cull in 'tainted egg' health scandal

Source: The Local August 10, 2017 12:45 UTC