MEPs on the European Parliament’s environment committee, which is chaired by Adina-Ioana Valean (EPP, Romania), want to know how the Commission intends to break the deadlock on certification of low-risk organic pesticides – a matter they feel to be important as certification would allow these products gradually to replace substances which are potentially harmful to the environment and human health.
In Brussels on Tuesday 31 January, the committee voted by 59 to 1, with 6 abstentions, to adopt a draft resolution which will follow up on the oral question that Parliament will shortly put to the Commission. This issue will be debated in Parliament and will be put to a vote in plenary session in Strasbourg next month (13-16 February).
Given that the use of conventional chemical pesticides is becoming increasingly controversial, precisely because of the risks to human health and the environment, MEPs stress the need to increase the availability of low-risk organic pesticides without further delay. They stress, too, the need to revise the regulation on the placing of plant-protection products on the market (Regulation EC 1107/2009) in order to encourage the development, authorisation and marketing in the EU of low-risk organic pesticides.
They observe that the length of the approval and registration procedure prior to the marketing of low-risk organic pesticides represents a significant economic barrier for manufacturers. Hitherto only seven active substances – six of which are organic active substances – classed as “low-risk” have been approved in the EU.
The current regulatory framework for plant protection products makes no distinction between organic and synthetic chemical plant protection products. Organic pesticides are those which are made from micro-organisms, botanical substances or semiochemical substances. The draft resolution notes that member states often refuse authorisation of low-risk organic pesticides because they are less effective than conventional pesticides.
The committee calls on the Commission to present a legislative proposal revising the 2009 regulation that will serve a dual purpose: to put in place a fast-track evaluation, authorisation and registration procedure for low-risk organic pesticides and to ensure that, in future, this kind of pesticide is approved for an undetermined period of time. The MEPs welcome the Commission’s intention to carry out an assessment of the 2009 regulation as part of its REFIT programme but state that this must not in any way weaken food safety and environmental protection standards.
The committee says that, to encourage development of new organic pesticides, the evaluation of their effectiveness in comparison with that of existing chemical pesticides should be such that it does not hinder their growth or their entry onto the market. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)