The Agency could also hire non-EU experts if they are leaders in their field. The scientist database will be available to all the 27 EU countries, who may use it to select experts for their own scientific activities.
Background
EFSA is the EU’s scientific risk assessment body on food and feed safety, nutrition, animal welfare, plant protection and health. Following its assessments, the Commission decides whether to authorise products on the European market. In recent years, some member states have criticised the agency, in particular accusing it of approving genetically modified (GM) products without proper research and relying too heavily on information provided by industry. In addition, with new regulation on health claims in force since July 2007, EFSA is receiving an increasing number of scientific dossiers to be assessed and the food industry has expressed its concern over the agency’s capacity to deal with the dossiers on time.
Comments
EFSA has a major role in allowing a safe (or unsafe) food products onto the internal market. Yet it is clear that not enough resources are being made available for EFSA to carry out accurate risk assessments. The whole range of EFSA’s activities therefore relies heavily on industry data.
This initiative could contribute to the improvement of the quality of risk assessments and enhance the transparency of the way in which experts are selected and invited to participate in EFSA’s scientific activities.
However, EPHA urges EFSA to make sure that the new database only includes impartial scientific experts, independent from industries. Moreover, political will is necessary to actually resort to these external experts. This database is a first step forward, but will need actual implementation to solve EFSA’s decision making process deficiencies.
For further information
The expert database login page, along with Frequently Asked Questions
EPHA related articles
