They also examined the roles of the all the bodies involved: the relevant national authorities, the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
In order to achieve its aim, the Committee questioned experts and stakeholders and organised a number of fact-finding missions necessary for the completion of its mission.
Their report and recommendations with regard to the EU’s authorisation procedure for pesticides in order to achieve a high level of protection of both human and animal health and the environment, was approved in December and is set to go to plenary during the January 14-17 session. The aim is to boost trust in the EU approval procedure by making it more transparent and accountable.
Among many proposals, MEPs agreed that the public should be granted access to the studies used in the procedure to authorise a pesticide, including all the supporting data and information relating to the applications.
During the procedure, applicants should be required to register all regulatory studies that will be carried out in a public register, and allow for a “comment period”, during which stakeholders are able to provide additional existing data to ensure that all relevant information is taken into account before a decision is made.
Post-market evaluation should be strengthened, and the Commission should launch an epidemiological study on the real-life impact of pesticides on human health.
They also proposed to review existing studies on carcinogenicity of glyphosate and to set maximum residue levels for soils and surface water.
Edited by Bouli Hadjioannou
