Greenpeace claims that several members on the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), set to decide today whether to grant the controversial pesticide glyphosate another 15-year license to be sold in the EU, have a conflict of interest, says The Independent.
Greenpeace’s letter to the agency claimed that two members, Slawomir Czerczak and Tiina Santonen, of ECHA’s Risk Assessment Committee are biased, since both “are employed by public scientific institutes that also generate income from providing risk assessment consultancy services to the chemical industry.”
The letter also laid out concerns over Tim Bowmer, the committee’s current chair, arguing that his professional experience “principally consists of risk assessment consultancy for the chemical industry. He may not be best-placed to safeguard strict independence from industry interests.”
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp and the world’s most common pesticide, has come under scrutiny for its potential cancer-causing effects. In 2015, the World Health Organization published a report saying it was “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” But shortly thereafter the WHO backtracked, citing more data, and along with the UN, the European Food Safety Agency and the U.S. EPA said the chemical was non-carcinogenic.
The ECHA had yet to receive the letter before the Independent posted its story, but the agency told the outlet that it’s transparent about members ties. It said that there were no conflicts of interest because both of the targeted members “work for respected national institutions that offer consultation services to industry, which is a normal practice.”
“The [ECHA] spokesman added that the two committee members named had not been part of the group that carried out the analysis of glyphosate or another group which acts as reviewers of the work,” said the Independent.