Brussels, 22/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - It would be irresponsible and unacceptable to extend the authorisation for glyphosate until 2031, as the European Commission is proposing, in the view of the European Parliament's environment committee which is chaired by Giovanni La Via (EPP, Italy).
The MEPs on the committee showed their determination, in Brussels on Tuesday 22 March, to block the path of this Commission proposal for as long as it takes to remove all doubts over the toxicity of the herbicide, as required by the precautionary principle (see EUROPE 11507).
The committee voted by a comfortable majority (38 votes to 6, with 18 abstentions) to approve a resolution on a Parliamentary objection to the Commission's draft implementing act which is based on the highly controversial opinion delivered by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which, in November 2015, concluded that glyphosate was probably not carcinogenic for humans even though, in March of 2015, the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had classified the substance as “a probable carcinogen” (see EUROPE 11482).
The legal grounds cited by the Parliamentary committee were simple: the European Commission has exceeded its implementing powers in making this proposal under European Regulation (EC) 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market. The list of arguments used to counter the proposal is, however, long with, at its head, the public health and animal and environmental protection imperative, which MEPs argue the Commission has disregarded, and the precautionary principle, which must apply where there is uncertainty.
“The fact that we have to resort to a parliamentary objection shows that something has gone wrong in the decision process”, said Pavel Voc (S&D, Czech Republic) who drafted the resolution. He was speaking on Monday 21 March in the debate on the eve of voting.
He went on to say: “We have written to Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis to ask for the decision to be delayed. The Commission has realised that no qualified majority will be reached within the relevant standing committee. The member states' representatives will vote in May 2016. I hope the Commission will take account of our objection”.
Questioning industry claims that glyophosate can be completely metabolised, he pointed out that “it is now clear that glyphosate residues are everywhere: in the environment, in many products we consume every day, in our bodies”.
MEPs make clear that, for as long as serious concerns remain about the carcinogenicity and endocrine disruptive properties of the herbicide glyphosate, the Commission should not renew unrestricted authorisation for this, the most widely used herbicide in Europe, which is used as a spray in hundreds of farm, forestry, urban and garden applications. They ask the Commission to review its course of action. The Commission, they say, should order an independent review of the risks of this active substance. And they urge the Commission and EFSA to disclose all the scientific evidence that EFSA used to assess glyphosate and formulate its scientific opinion. Three of the scientific studies have been kept confidential at the request of the industry (see EUROPE 11503).
MEPs also want the EU Food and Veterinary Office to be mandated to test and monitor glyphosate residues in foods and drinks. The US Environmental Protection Agency is currently re-assessing the threat of glyphosate to humans and the environment, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to start testing for the presence of glyphosate in soybeans, maize, milk and eggs, in particular.
With this vote, the Parliamentary committee urges the European Parliament to follow its lead and to veto the Commission plans until it puts the motion for objection to the vote in April (plenary session of 11-14 April). Thus, no matter the decision of the member state representatives, who have, for the present, chosen to postpone the vote on the matter in the standing committee for plants, animals, food and feed (PAFF committee) (see EUROPE 11507), MEPs will have taken the lead in attempting to influence the course of events.
The motion for a Parliamentary objection was jointly signed by Katerina Konecna (GUE/NGL, Czech Republic), Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) and Piernicola Pedicini (EFDD, Italy) on behalf of their respective political groups, and MEPs Mark Demesmaeker (ECR, Belgium), Sirpa Pietikainen (EPP, Finland) and Frédérique Ries (ALDE, Belgium). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)