It is a flat refusal that European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis gave MEPs on Tuesday 13 November, in response to their alarm at the relaunch of the procedure for glyphosate authorisation (possibly for ten years in the EU) – despite the opinions of the European agencies contradicting that of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, and despite the revelations of the Monsanto Papers.
Whatever happens, the Commission trusts the assessments of the EU agencies and will go ahead with the authorisation renewal procedure, in line with its legal obligations, without reviewing these assessments and without conducting an investigation, Andriukaitis essentially stated – much to the annoyance of MEPs from the ALDE, S&D, GUE-NGL and Greens/EFA Groups.
Parliament would especially like to know if the Commission intends to investigate the allegations of Monsanto illegitimately influencing the approval procedure for the active substance glyphosate – revelations that, in the opinion of MEPs, have cast doubt on the credibility of the studies that were used as the benchmark for the assessments of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
In response to the oral question that the Parliament's environment committee had prepared (see EUROPE 11798), Andriukaitis repeated the whole history of the authorisation, stating that EFSA and ECHA, "like many other agencies" in the 27 member states and worldwide, "in Canada, the USA, Australia, have concluded that the active substance is probably not carcinogenic". He argued that last year's decision to renew the licence until the end of 2017 at the latest had been "in the framework of the authorisation procedure in force in the EU", which had been approved by the Parliament itself. Andriukaitis stated that the Parliament had previously decided on a seven-year renewal, together with restrictions. He furthermore said that "the Commission has no proof" that the allegations of the Monsanto Papers are founded.
Regarding investment in research into less harmful herbicides, he gave assurances that over €100 million has been invested in the phytosanitary domain for risk assessment and diagnosis, and "€7 million for research into alternative solutions for chemical herbicides". There is therefore no question, in Andriukaitis' mind, of suspending the authorisation renewal. By contrast, he affirmed he would be "delighted" for the Court of Justice, to which the Greens/EFA Group has turned in the hope of obtaining transparency on the studies that form the basis of EFSA's opinion, to rule on this. "This would enable greater clarity", he said.
When introducing the debate, Miriam Dalli (S&D, Malta) nevertheless underlined "the lack of transparency and weakness of the studies, which results in a loss of citizens' trust", especially as "on eight occasions, an increase in cases of tumours following exposure to glyphosate has not been taken into account by EFSA". The S&D Group is calling for all doubt to be lifted on the genotoxicity and carcinogenicity of glyphosate.
Frédérique Ries (ALDE, Belgium) was outraged at the fact that 14 months after the resolution approved by the Parliament advocating bans for specific uses, there is still no clarity. "You tell us, move on, there is nothing to see! The Monsanto Papers won't change anything. That is unacceptable. The principle of precaution must be the principle of public action", she said, also criticising "the member states that do not take their responsibility".
In the EPP, Angelique Delahaye (France) argued for "a decision to be taken based on solid scientific analysis and not on positions". In the view of Kateřina Konečná (GUE/NGL, Czech Republic) "what's happening is a farce. Monsanto is burying its head in the sand and the Commission must investigate". It is not only about carcinogenicity, Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) stated. "The Monsanto Papers have shown that unacceptable pressure has been exercised on the studies used by EFSA. You say it's used other studies, but we haven't seen them!", he said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)