Scientific Committees - Call for members

The European Commission has published a call for expressions of interest concerning membership of the eight newly established Scientific Committees in the field of consumer health and food safety. These committees will replace the existing scientific committees in this area, ...

The European Commission has published a call for expressions of interest concerning membership of the eight newly established Scientific Committees in the field of consumer health and food safety.

These committees will replace the existing scientific committees in this area, strengthening their coherence and redefining certain of their activities. The establishment of the new committees is a significant step towards the implementation of the "new approach" announced in the Commission's communication on Consumer Health and Food Safety, published on 30 April 1997.

The Committees for which members are sought are:

- The Scientific Committee on Food;
- The Scientific Committee on Animal Nutrition;
- The Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Welfare (Two sub-committees: on animal health, and on animal welfare);
- The Scientific Committee on Veterinary Public Health
- The Scientific Committee on Plants;
- The Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-food Products intended for Consumers;
- The Scientific Committee on Medicaments and Medical Materials;
- The Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment;

The Scientific Committees will provide the Commission with scientific opinions on matters relating to consumer health and food safety. In particular, they will:

- Critically examine risk assessments made by scientists belonging to Member State organizations;

- Develop new risk assessment procedures in areas such as food-borne diseases and the transmission of animal diseases to man;

- Prepare scientific opinions designed to enable the Commission to evaluate the scientific basis of the recommendations, standards and guidelines prepared in international forums;

- Evaluate the scientific principles on which Community health standards are based, taking into account the risk assessment techniques developed by the international organizations concerned.

Based on the evolution of existing scientific data, the Scientific Committees may, in addition, draw the Commission's attention to any specific or emerging problem, falling within their remit, relating to consumer health and food safety.

Each Scientific Committee will consist of a maximum of 19 members. The activities of these Committees will be coordinated by the Scientific Steering Committee which has recently been established by the Commission.

Leading experts in the sectors covered, in Europe and elsewhere, are invited to make themselves available for this important task. Candidatures may also be submitted by scientific organizations and universities.

Candidates are invited to submit the following information to the Commission:

- The Committee (or sub-committee) of interest;
- Their personal details, including a contact address;
- A detailed curriculum vitae, specifying in particular all connections with the consumer health field;
- A declaration of all interests which may be relevant to the Committees' work;
- A list of appropriate publications, etc.
All correspondence should be addressed to:

European Commission
DG XXIV - Consumer policy and consumer health protection
Unit B/1 - Secretariat of the Selection Committee for the Scientific Committees
200 rue de la Loi
B-1049 Brussels
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]

Envelopes must be marked as follows "Comités scientifiques/ Appel à manifestation d'intérêt/ Confidentiel".

The full text of the Call for expressions of interest is also available on the EUROPA WWW server, at:

http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg24/spc.html