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New rules on pesticide residue levels in food and animal feed were approved by MEPs in Strasbourg yesterday. The European Parliament adopted its 2nd reading of a draft regulation aimed at simplifying existing legislation, creating a level playing field for producers and improving consumer protection. 1,000 pesticides and up to 160 crops will be affected.
Amendments adopted by MEPs include the following:
Robert Sturdy MEP (Conservative, Eastern Region) steered the legislation through the European Parliament and led the negotiations with the Council of Ministers. He welcomed the overwhelming support for this regulation, which he said was a forerunner of the REACH proposals on evaluating and registering chemicals across the EU.
The package of amendments approved now goes to the Council of Ministers for formal approval. The regulation will then come into effect gradually, once the technical annexes have been adopted by the European Food Safety Agency, Commission and Member States.
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Contact:
Simon Duffin, Press Officer, European Parliament UK Office, tel 020 7227 4335,
sduffin@europarl.eu.int
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Robert Sturdy MEP (Conservative, Eastern Region): The one thing that has not escaped me, but may well have escaped other Members, is that this is a forerunner of the REACH Directive, which will be one of the biggest reports to come through Parliament. If they can handle it in the way that we handled it...then we shall be in an extremely strong position.
What does it mean to consumers, the people who will be affected by this legislation? It means safer food across Europe; it means that if you buy a tomato in Ireland that has come from Spain you can guarantee the quality and safety of that product. It provides a guarantee that British lamb sold, dare I say, to the French is safe. That is extremely important for the consumer.
We also agreed that imports need to be of the same level of quality. This is important for people who import into the European Union. The levels of pesticides have to be of the same standard .
It is important that we do not place governments or countries at a disadvantage compared to other Member States. That is why this legislation has been put in place. It is workable, it is a good regulation.
Commissioner Markos Kyprianou: Allow me to underline the significance of these regulations for food safety. It will enable us to set harmonised maximum residue levels in the EU for all pesticides and all agricultural products in one piece of legislation directly applicable to all EU citizens. All situations will be covered, including a list of pesticides for which no maximum residue levels are required and the low level that will apply systematically to all pesticides for which we have no information.
This legislation will benefit all parties. Consumers will profit from better protection and more transparency about which pesticides could be present in food and their potential effects. Food producers will benefit because there will be more clarity as to what specifications the products have to comply with
Linda McAvan MEP (Labour, Yorkshire & The Humber): In a recent opinion poll 77 per cent of British people said that they are concerned about pesticides in food so, as everyone has said, what we are doing here resonates with public opinion
There are two issues which particularly concern me and I am very pleased that we have secured a deal on them. The first is cumulative and synergistic effects: cocktail effects. We were told that there is no methodology at present to measure this effect but this is an effect which research suggests is at the root of our problems. I am very pleased to hear the Commissioner say that he is going to take this research forward and support Parliament in making sure that we get more research into the cumulative effects.
The second issue is about the effects on children and the unborn. A lot of research suggests that children and the unborn have in some way been affected by either pesticides or chemicals in our environment. In a recent radio programme about chemicals they did a series of tests on a grandmother, a mother, and a granddaughter. These tests showed that the highest level of chemicals was found not in the grandmother, who had lived through the highest levels of pollution in our streets in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, but in the granddaughter who was 15 years old.
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Full text of the debate in the European Parliament (14 December 2004):
Report by Robert Sturdy MEP (A6-0049/2004):
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?L=EN&OBJID=92743&LEVEL=4&MODE=SIP&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N
Text and amendments adopted by Parliament:
Existing directives affected by the new regulation:
repealed:
76/895/EEC: http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31976L0895
86/362/EEC: http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31986L0362
86/363/EEC: http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31986L0363
90/642/EEC: http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31990L0642
amended:
91/414/EEC on plant protection products: http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31991L0414
UK MEPs contact details and websites:
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