On Thursday 20 September, the first broad lines of what could be the recommendations of the European Parliament’s special committee PEST were published in the form of a draft report by Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany) and Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium), co-rapporteurs for this body created in March to shed full light on the procedure for authorising pesticides in the EU, further to the controversial five-year renewal of the glyphosate licence.
The draft report is a necessary work of compromise between the various political trends. It is the fruit of five months of work and hearings of a maximum number of experts. It is a synthesis of gaps identified in the procedure for authorising pesticides in the EU and suggests ways to remedy this, by improving the independence and transparency of the procedure.
Norbert Lins underlined: “The EU has the most stringent approval system in the world” but “a system can always improve. The EPP Group first and foremost wants to make sure the authorisation procedure for plant protection products remains sciences-based and relies on independent, transparent and efficient processes. We cannot let science be led by politics”.
In his view, allowing the Commission to nominate the rapporteur member states for active substances, as the report suggests, will increase the quality of assessment. This requirement, combined with more harmonisation and up-to-date science “will improve the trust in the EU’s approval system whilst protecting the competitiveness of the agricultural sector in the EU”. This is a major concern of the EPP, ALDE and the ECR Groups.
The report suggests that the “pesticides” regulation (1107/2009) governing the marketing of plant protection products should be revised and its implementation improved so that member states may strictly apply Article 53 on emergency uses. Staes welcomed this. He put in: “From a Greens perspective, it is very important that the report calls for more transparency, for example via public access to full studies prior to EFSA opinions”. He also underlined the importance of improving the assessment of plant protection products – including long-term toxicity and post-marketing monitoring.
According to the draft report, approval of active substances would continue to be carried out at EU level and that of plant protection products would remain within the scope of member states.
Among the other recommendations, the text calls for the creation of an effective system of vigilance after products have been marketed in order to ensure monitoring of the impact of plant protection products on human and animal health and on the environment as a whole.
It recommends sufficient financial resources in Horizon Europe in order to promote independent research on the adverse effects of pesticides on human and animal health and the environment.
“This draft report is a first stage, not the point of arrival. We must do everything possible to ensure the precautionary principle for all 500 million Europeans whom we represent and modify the protocol for authorisation of molecules”, commented the chairman of the PEST committee, Eric Andrieu (S&D). This will be debated at the PEST committee on Thursday 27 September. The vote is scheduled for 6 December.
The NGO Pan Europe (Pesticide Action Network) welcomed this draft report while underlining that, in its opinion, recommendations are lacking to: - implement post-marketing monitoring to know the levels of pesticides that farmers, residents of agricultural areas and the environment are really exposed to and evaluate the consequent adverse effects they may cause; - improve the quality, expertise, independence and transparency in safety assessment of pesticide active ingredients, co-formulants and pesticide products; - focus on long-term toxicity and neurotoxicity from low doses; - use all available scientific literature and incorporate academia in the evaluation procedure; - approve an application dossier only when it is complete and all data requirements have been provided; - and enforce mitigation measures in member states and monitor their effectiveness in real time. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)