EU: constitution of the EP Special Committee “PEST”

The newly formed "PEST" special committee of the European Parliament is to examine the scandalous glyphosate risk assessment and the European pesticide approval system as a whole over the next six months. Harald Ebner, spokesman for genetic engineering and the Greens' bioeconomic policy (picture), explains this:

"It is good that the Special Committee of the European Parliament is now beginning its work. The German Greens are well represented with the agricultural politician Maria Heubuch. The questionable processes involved in the re-registration of glyphosate must be thoroughly clarified."

Further he stated: "The new German federal government will enter its work with the burden of deliberately thwarting European glyphosate phase-out from its own ranks. The now in the coalition agreement of exactly the same partner promised vaguely national Maybe-anytime-exit - that doesn't seem at all credible. Even more so, in view of recent statements by the newly-designated new Minister of Agriculture, Julia Klöckner, to make glyphosate "superfluous" at some point and by employees of her future house, whose primary objective is obviously to keep glyphosate in use for as long as possible instead of limiting it."

Mr Ebner hopes that the special committee on glyphosate will finally shed more light on the inconsistencies in the approval procedure: "studies that are supposed to be independent but actually written by Monsanto itself, devaluations blindly accepted by the authorities of critical independent research results and deliberately overlooking unpleasant findings must finally be thoroughly clarified."

"In the end, this could jeopardise the basis for Schmidt's EU re-registration of glyphosate. The case of glyphosate has clearly shown one thing: the pesticide approval procedure must become more independent and transparent. The Committee can also provide valuable impetus in this respect."