Today, the European Commission presented the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus seeking to amend 10 major pieces of EU legislation, including Regulation (EC) 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market. While IFOAM Organics Europe welcomes the proposed amendments aimed at improving the regulatory framework for biocontrol products, the organic movement strongly condemns the Commission’s decision to simultaneously introduce measures that would weaken the regulatory framework for synthetic pesticides.
“The organic sector has long called for an adapted regulatory framework for biocontrol products, which are currently assessed and approved under procedures designed for synthetic pesticides, despite their fundamentally different nature. We therefore welcome the Commission’s intention to introduce a more appropriate framework for biocontrol”, said Jan Plagge, President of IFOAM Organics Europe.
“However, we are extremely concerned by the amendments relating to synthetic pesticides, in particular those that would allow unlimited approval periods,” continued Eric Gall, Deputy Director of IFOAM Organics Europe. “While acknowledging that biocontrol can support more sustainable farming practices and reduce farmers’ dependency on synthetic pesticides, the Commission is proposing to grant indefinite approval periods to synthetic substances. This is not only incoherent, but also dangerous. Synthetic pesticides are known to cause serious harm to human health and the environment, and it is precisely during periodic renewal procedures that such toxic effects are identified, including for substances that are not classified as candidates for substitution”.
On 25 November, Members of the European Parliament sent a strong political signal by adopting, with 90,8% support, an own-initiative report on biocontrol that remained strictly focused on biocontrol substances. “We appeal to the sense of responsibility of MEPs and Member States to continue in this direction by refocusing discussions solely on biocontrol”, highlighted Eric Gall.
Finally, while the amendments proposed for biocontrol largely reflect the needs and requests of the organic sector, IFOAM Organics Europe stresses that the definition of biocontrol proposed by the Commission must be revised. By including “substances of biological origin or produced synthetically that are functionally identical and structurally similar to them”, the proposed definition opens the door to novel practices that must be carefully assessed and authorised. As adopted by the European Parliament in its own-initiative report, the definition of biocontrol must be strictly limited to identicality.
- Further information available at www.organicseurope.bio
Subscribe to Bio Eco Actual Newsletter and be up to date with the latest news from the Organic Sector
Bio Eco Actual, International Organic Newspaper
Read Bio Eco Actual
