EU urged to confirm new licence for key herbicide

With a last-minute EC fudge on the future use of glyphosate – t he most widely used herbicide in world agriculture – farmers face further uncertainty over its future use.

Despite numerous expert bodies having classified the herbicide as safe, no vote was taken yesterday by the EU’S standing committee on plants, animals, food and feed ( SCOPAFF).

The next step for the Commission will be to table a vote at another SCOPAFF meeting at a future date, still to be confirmed. Renewal will require a qualified majority vote in the committee. If this is not reached, the issue could be tab led at the EU appeals committee.

Meanwhile t he current licence for glyphosate will run out on 15 December – less than two months away.

According to research by Oxford Economics, a ban on glyphosate could lead to severe economic consequences, including a £ 930 million reduction in UK GDP and an additional cost to farmers of almost £ 1 billion a year. While farmers would be the main losers, local authorities and railway companies use large quantities of glyphosate.

Sarah Mukherjee of the Crop Protection Association described then ondecision yesterday as disappointing.

“Independent, expert regulators, around the world all agree thatglyp hosat e is safe ,” she said. “These regulators rightly take their duty to protect public health very seriously. Yet politicians are ignoring them, and are doing so for no good reason, other than a misguided, ideological opposition to modern agriculture.”

She urged member states to grant glyp hosate the standard 15- year licence saying failure to do so would risk significant damage to the economy, the environment and the agricultural sector

NFU Scotland expressed deep disappointment and hoped that the next expert committee meeting would base its vote on the volume of scientific evidence rather than politics.

President Andrew Mccornick said :“The overwhelming science indicates that glyphosate is the safe st, mos te co-friendly herbicide available and it is a vital tool for producing safe, high quality food.

“Arab le and livestock farms throughout Scotland rely onglyp ho sat e to control weeds, manage harvests, and reduce grain drying costs and have done so safely for many, many years.”