BRUSSELS BOOTS HEALT WATCH

Neil Buckley, Brussels

The European Commission is to set up a "super committee" of commissioners to oversee human health issues, in the wake of the "mad cow" crisis. The move is part of an extensive reorganisation of animal arid human health functions announced by the Brussels executive yesterday.

Although the Commission indicated last month its intention to make the changes, the formal announcement yesterday was seen as an effort to avoid a clash with the European parliament. Parliament will vote in Strasbourg next Wednesday on the highly critical report by its special inquiry committee on the handling of last year's beef crisis, and threatened a censure motion against the Commission unless it revamped its policies. The shake-up aims to ensure proper separation between the functions of scientific consultation, preparation of legislation and monitoring of its implementations, and between staff dealing with the agricultural market and consumer policy.

Responsibility for human health issues, spread across several Commission departments including Mr Franz Fischler's agriculture directorate, will-pass under sole control of Ms Emma Bonino, commissioner for fisheries, consumer policy and humanitarian affairs. A committee to co-ordinate health issues, including Ms Bonino and Mr Fischler, chaired by Mr Jacques Santer, Commission president, will also be set up within the decision-making "college" of 20 commissioners.