Workshop Report: Risk Perception and the Acceptability of Human Exposure to Pesticides

The European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors received from Commissioner Andriukaitis (Health and Food Safety) a request for scientific advice to inform a Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT) evaluation. This REFIT aims to carry out an evidence-based assessment of the current regulatory system for plant protection products (PPPs) and pesticides residues.

A SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies) working group of European experts were asked to compile an evidence review report addressing the question ‘Could the current EU dual system for approval and authorisation of plant protection products (PPPs) be rendered more effective, efficient, and transparent, and if so, how?’. The SAPEA report informs SAM HLG Scientific Opinion, thus enabling Commissioner Andriukaitis to foster evidence-based policy making in the field of pesticides regulations.

This topic is highly relevant to our society, therefore SAPEA and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS, Potsdam, Germany) jointly organised a workshop on the 20 December 2017 in Berlin, on the theme of «Risk perception and the acceptability of human exposure to pesticides». This report summarises the outcome of the workshop.