The European Commission is preparing to “re-approve glyphosate without restrictions” and has already submitted a draft report to the Member States to this effect. The NGO PAN Europe denounced this on Monday 17 July, accusing the Commission’s ‘Health’ departments of speeding up the procedure, evading the rules of transparency and thus avoiding public debate, while it will be necessary to wait until October for the publication of EFSA’s reference documents on which its conclusions are based.
The NGO bases its accusations on the draft renewal report that the Commission submitted to the EU27 experts at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (ScoPAFF) on 11 and 12 July. However, the only item on the agenda for this meeting was an exchange of views (announced in section A04 of the agenda). The presentation of the draft renewal report (under section A 05) should have been included in the comitology transparency register, PAN Europe pointed out.
On 6 July, EFSA published a statement in favour of renewing the use of the active substance glyphosate, while acknowledging a lack of data on the risks associated with neurotoxicity and damage to the microbiome and biodiversity (see EUROPE 13217/7). EFSA will not publish the full peer review until the end of July, and the supporting documents will be published progressively, from the end of August until mid-October.
“Hence, it won’t be until October that scientists and civil society will have the chance to scrutinise EFSA’s work. DG Santé hastily moves forward in secrecy while leaving civil society in the dark, just before the summer recess. How transparent and democratic is this?” asked the Executive Director of PAN Europe, Martin Dermine.
The Commission defends itself. When questioned by EUROPE, a Commission spokesperson denied that there was any problem of transparency, since “the exchange of views on EFSA’s conclusions was on the agenda” of the ScoPAFF meeting.
“Regulatory decisions in this area are always based on science and evidence. As in all other cases, the Commission is fully committed to ensuring that the approval of active substances in plant protection products, such as glyphosate, is based on the most recent scientific evidence and in strict compliance with EU law”, he insisted.
He added: “The Commission is consulting the Member States on the basis of a draft proposal to renew the approval of glyphosate, subject to a number of conditions”. A second discussion is scheduled at ScoPAFF in September before “a vote by the Member States in October”.
The current glyphosate licence, renewed in December 2022 for one year, expires on 15 December 2023 (see EUROPE 13077/6).
The Commission’s proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/83k
The agenda for the last ScoPAFF meeting: https://aeur.eu/f/83x
The transparency register: https://aeur.eu/f/83y (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)