The Environment Public Health and Food Safety
Committee (ENVI)
Air, soil. and water pollution fall under
the responsibility of ENVI
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health
and Food Safety is responsible for a wide range of issues concerning
all aspects environmental policy and protection. Due to its powers
of co-decision no new policy can be implemented in the EU without
the approval of ENVI. As this is an area where decisions are taken
on a European, not national, level this makes it probably the most
influential Committee in the European Parliament. ENVI certainly
has more direct involvement in the development of new Environmental
legislation than the House of Commons.
Air, soil and water pollution; climate change;
the classification, packaging, labelling, transport and use of
dangerous substances such as pesticides; green initiatives such
as recycling and the treatment and storage of waste, all fall under
the responsibilities of ENVI.
Priorities of the
EU's Environment Action Programme for 2001-10 are:
- Tackling climate change and global warming;
- Protecting the natural habitat and wildlife;
- Addressing environment and health issues;
- Preserving natural resources and managing waste.
In addition to Environmental policy, ENVI also
deals with public health. How health care is provided and implemented
is up to our Government: the NHS runs our hospitals but areas where
it makes sense to work on a European, rather than national, level
(such as labelling, food safety, GMOs) are discussed in ENVI. For
example ENVI oversaw strict new rules regarding the growing, labelling
and sale of Genetically Modified products in the EU.
There is a great deal of overlap between ENVI
and AGRI in areas that affect food and farming: veterinary legislation
about protection for human health dangers arising from animal products;
public health checks on foodstuffs and safety measures are all
approved by this committee. The Environment and Agriculture Committees
have worked together closely on dealing with the threat of Avian
Influenza (Bird Flu).
One of the hottest topics to hit the European
Parliament in recent times was the testing of cosmetic products
on animals. ENVI bought in a stringent ban to prevent animal suffering
and the new Animal Welfare Plan will be a key priority in ENVI
in the coming years.
