The European Parliament political leaders green-lighted a special committee to look into the EU’s authorisation procedure for pesticides.

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The full House will take the final decision on the proposal by the Conference of Presidents (Parliament’s President and political group leaders) at its session in February. The special committee is a response to concerns raised about the risk posed by the herbicide substance glyphosate. The herbicide had its marketing licence renewed by EU member states for five years in November last year.

The special committee is to assess:

• the authorisation procedure for pesticides in the EU;
• potential failures in how substances are scientifically evaluated and approved;
• the role of the European Commission in renewing the glyphosate licence;
• possible conflicts of interest in the approval procedure;
• the role of EU agencies, and whether they are adequately staffed and financed to fulfil their obligations.

The term of the special committee, which will have 30 members, is to be nine months from its first meeting. It will deliver a final report of its factual findings and recommendations, to be approved by the full house. 

The full House will vote on the mandate during the 5-8 February plenary session.

In a resolution voted on in October, Parliament stated that the release of the so-called “Monsanto Papers”, internal documents from the company which owns and produces Roundup®, of which glyphosate is the main active substance, shed doubt on the credibility of some studies used in the EU evaluation on glyphosate safety, say MEPs.

Molly Scott Cato MEP, who sits on the European parliament’s agriculture committee, said:

“This is a victory for Greens in Europe who have been pushing for a special committee to investigate the decision-making process for the proposed renewal of glyphosate's licence in Europe].

“Greens have serious concerns about whether the rules have been respected during the decision-making process for glyphosate and why scientific studies demonstrating that glyphosate is dangerous have been ignored.

“This committee will have a vital role in establishing how we can make the decision-making and evaluation processes transparent and objective. Secret science is not science: its time to shine a spotlight on who is pulling the strings when it comes to authorising these potentially toxic and environmentally damaging products.”

“Ultimately the victors of today’s announcement are the public as it could improve health and the many species we share our precious environment with. Almost one and a half million people across Europe have signed a petition calling for a Europe-wide ban on glyphosate. They need to know that their voices also helped secure this investigation.”