ANSES’s Scientific Council wants to strengthen the agency’s credibility

It’s a blow to “scientific credibility” the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES). The scientific council of the institution, composed largely of scientists independent of it, alert, in a report (PDF) published Friday, March 10, on “the credibility of the Agency’s expertise”revealed The world (article reserved for subscribers). Work undertaken when the publication of certain opinions (glyphosate, neonicotinoids, etc.) in recent years has sparked heated controversy, with ANSES sometimes in sharp disagreement with institutions or members of the scientific community.

Tensions weighing on scientific expertise

The board concludes that the agency’s scientific expertise is subject to “three great tensions”. The first is “a gap between scientific knowledge and expert results”factor of “controversies”because of “the need to take into account the most advanced scientific knowledge while relying on clear rules shared by all the players concerned”. The second voltage is the offset between “the urgency of rendering certain opinions” and the “time needed to carry out a quality scientific expertise”which leads to the production of “results (…) weakened”. Last tension: the fact that, since 2015, ANSES has been responsible for assessing the risks associated with certain products (pesticides, veterinary medicinal products, etc.) but also their authorization, or not, of placing on the market, which induces a harmful mix of genres according to the board.

The report makes many suggestions for “limit the risk of questioning the expertise” of the agency. Among these is the fact of “promoting scientific diversity” within ANSES,“refine the treatment of links of interest”of “strengthen the application of the rules of collective expertise”and to systematically indicate in publications “the level of uncertainty, the scientific controversies” and the gap between the assessment carried out and the knowledge produced outside the limits necessary for them to be taken into account in the expert appraisal.