Canice Nolan is first counselor and head of the Food Safety, Health, and Consumer Affairs Section at the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington DC.

Prior to this appointment, he worked for both the DG Research of the European Commission responsible for program management on Environment, Health, and Chemical Safety and for the DG Agriculture where he was responsible initially for pesticides residues legislation. Following the reorganization of the commission in 1999, this work moved to DG Health and Consumer Protection where he was head of the Plant Protection Products Sector – responsible for the management and development of legislation on pesticides evaluation, authorization, and use as well as the setting and monitoring of maximum residue limits for pesticides in food and feed.

Nolan holds a B.Sc. in zoology and a PhD in heavy metal toxicology from the University College Dublin.

• The Avian Flu (December 6, 2005)