For the second time, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has produced a flawed assessment on derogations provided by Member States for the use of neonicotinoids, based on article 53 of the pesticide regulation 1107/2009/EC.
The use of 120 days derogations based on Article 53 is common practice in Member States. This is done to either speed up the availability of new active substances on the market, while regular authorisations are under evaluation by the competent authority or to keep using substances that have been banned in the EU because of their toxicity to human health or the environment. While in the first case, a societal interest can be found when it comes to replacing hazardous pesticides by substances that present a lower risk profile, the latter scenario is much more problematic.
Following the pressure from civil society, the European Commission sent a first mandate to the EFSA to assess derogations provided by EU Member States for the use of neonicotinoids in 2017. In 2020, a new mandate was sent to assess derogations provide in 2020 and 2021 for the use of neonicotinoids on sugar beet crops.
In both cases, PAN Europe considers the EFSA has carried out a non-scientific piece of work and acted as a secretariat rather than a scientific advisor to the European Commission. Secondly, the EFSA has based its work on a flawed methodology that gives priority to chemical solutions rather than to non-chemical alternatives.