Comments from Bart Staes on the European Parliament’s new PEST Special Committee
Glyphosate
On Monday 12 March, the European Parliament’s new Special Committee on the EU's authorisation procedure for pesticides (‘PEST’) agreed on its chairs, vice-chairs and co-rapporteurs.
Greens/EFA MEP Bart Staes was nominated as the committee’s co-rapporteur. Both Staes and Michèle Rivasi will be full members of PEST for the Greens/EFA group, with Maria Heubuch and Thomas Waitz as substitute members. PEST will run for nine months.
Bart Staes comments:
"We want to make sure there can no re-run of the glyphosate saga. The re-authorisation of glyphosate highlighted the serious problems with the current process. We will now examine the evidence in detail and come forward with recommendations to make sure that the authorisation procedure as a whole is fit for purpose so that future decisions are fully transparent and respect the precautionary principle.
"This new committee gives us the opportunity to delve into the work of the different agencies, the quality of the evidence used, the role of industry and the independence and transparency of the entire process. Protection of public health and the environment must be at the heart of these decisions. We will continue to give voice to the concerns raised by over a million people who signed the European Citizens' Initiative to ban glyphosate."
