In Brussels on Wednesday 31 October, a coalition of some 120 European and international NGOs, institutions and scientists, who are concerned by the harmful impact of pesticides on public health and the environment, launched a manifesto calling for a complete overhaul of the procedure for authorising pesticides in the EU, in order to guarantee effective and genuine protection for public health and the environment. This must be in line with the objectives of the 2009 European regulation (1107/2009) governing authorisation for the marketing of phytopharmaceutical products.
Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe), Client Earth, GMWatch, the European Environment Bureau (EEB), the Global 2000 network, Générations Futures, HEAL, Justice Pesticides, and CEO (Corporate Europe Observatory), among others, signed the manifesto entitled “Citizens for Science in Pesticide Regulation”, in favour of rigorous science, safe food and a healthy environment.
The EU’s “pesticides” regulation is a good piece of legislation in theory but the authorities authorise a high number of toxic pesticides on the basis of risk assessments that leave to be desired as they are based on studies generated by industry, the signatories of the manifesto underline, being against conflicts of interest. They also denounce emergency derogations (Article 53 of the regulation), fraudulently solicited by member states to circumvent prohibition of certain pesticides, such as neonicotinoids in particular.
Citizens therefore call for a complete reform of the risk assessment and risk management procedure in the EU. As work is ongoing – review of the “pesticides” regulation as part of the Commission’s REFIT programme and draft recommendations of the Parliament’s special PEST committee – to improve the pesticide authorisation procedure in the EU, the manifesto aims for the “voice of civil society and scientists concerned to be correctly heard”, said Martin Dermine, Director of PAN Europe.
“We hope to be able to influence the decision on risk assessment and risk management and the work of co-legislators on reform of the general food law so that they take the right decision. We want the reduction of the risk of citizens’ exposure to chemical products to be a priority of the next European Commission”, said Angeliki Lyssimachou, responsible at the NGO for scientific policy.
According to the manifesto, reform should: - give priority to public health, the environment and sustainable farming; - ensure that political decision-makers rely on data that is complete, public, up to date and free from industrial bias; - and allow decision-makers, civil society and the scientific community to scrutinise the integrity and effectiveness of European pesticide policy.
The manifesto was backed by 118 NGOs and 25 individuals. All citizens and organisations concerned are invited to swell their ranks.
Arnaud Apoteker from Justice Pesticides cited several cases in which the European Commission has lost a case before the courts for having denied NGOs access to scientific data. Professor Barbara Demeneix from the national natural history museum of France underlined “there is clear evidence that organophosphate pesticide exposure during pregnancy is linked to increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders and IQ loss” of the unborn child.
Professor Brian Wynne of Lancaster University (United Kingdom) placed emphasis on the links that exist between pesticides and GMOs treated to resist certain herbicides. “A risk assessment should assess the combination. Pesticides risk assessment and GMO risk assessment are totally separate at the EFSA”, he said. He also commented that, in the EU, the precautionary principle embodied in the Treaty must apply to risk management (by the Commission and member states) but not to risk assessment. “One considers it goes without saying that science applies the precautionary principle. Risk assessment is not necessarily precautionary”, he explained. He then went on to criticise the fact that it is not, for example, acknowledged that how questions to scientists are framed is of importance.
To consult the manifesto see: https://bit.ly/2RrVklM. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)