The European Parliament’s lead lawmakers on the food and feed safety omnibus want to go significantly beyond the original European Commission proposal by keeping pesticides on the market longer and with fewer checks along the way, according to a draft report, not yet public, obtained by POLITICO.
In one of the most significant changes, pesticides that are candidates for substitution — flagged for possible replacement because of health or environmental concerns when safer alternatives are available — would be allowed to stay longer on the market. Their approval periods would increase from seven years to 15 years, both for initial approvals and renewals. These pesticides could then be renewed for up to 15 more years based on how useful they are to farmers.
In addition, before the commission could make a decision to pull these candidates for substitution off the market, it would need to make sure the alternative is equally effective and affordable for farmers.
The rapporteurs — European People’s Party’s Herbert Dorfmann for AGRI and European Conservatives and Reformist Michele Picaro for ENVI — also want to expand the Commission’s plan to give all but the most hazardous pesticides open-ended approvals instead of requiring renewal every 10 to 15 years. They are extending this approach also to active substances already under review, as well as to products containing those substances.
