The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has proposed what it considers a “safer and faster” alternative to the European Commission’s simplification plan, which provides for unlimited authorisations for most pesticides, stated the NGO PAN Europe on Wednesday 13 May.
According to the organisation, the approach envisaged by the Commission could lead to a lower level of protection for both human health and the environment (see EUROPE 13849/11).
The Commission is presenting this reform as a means of reducing administrative delays in the European pesticide assessment system. However, in written responses sent on 8 May to French MEP Benoît Biteau and Croatian MEP Biljana Borzan (S&D), EFSA suggests that a targeted increase in human resources and stricter screening of incomplete industrial dossiers would speed up procedures without compromising health safeguards.
According to EFSA, recruiting around fifty additional experts and rejecting dossiers deemed insufficient would have a “transformative effect” on the EU’s pesticide assessment system. EFSA estimates that the current backlog of authorisation renewals could be cleared within three years under this approach, compared with eight years under the proposed plan based on unlimited authorisations.
Further details: https://aeur.eu/f/lwf (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)