Welcome and relief as glyphosphate relicensed
While the decision reached yesterday to renew the licence for glyphosate use within the EU for a fiveyear period took many pundits by surprise, most in the farming world hailed the decision as a “victory for science over politics”.
The necessary qualified majority of member states voted in favour of the proposals to relicense the use of one of the world’s most commonly used weedkillers for a further five years at a meeting of the appeals committee, where 18 member states voted in favour, nine against, and one abstained.
Controversy had dogged the process of relicensing the product following conflicting reports on glyphosate’s safety – although the EU’S own advisory watchdog had declared it safe to use. A series of meetings hadfailedtoreachthequalified majority necessary to see the product either relicensed or banned, and with authorisation running out on 15 December, yesterday’s meetings represented the last chance reach agreement.
Vytenis Andriukaitis, the man in charge of health and food safety at the European Commission, congratulated member states on finally making a decision.
“Today’s vote shows that when we all want and put effort in it, we are able to accept and to share our collective responsibility in decision making,” he said.
NFU Scotland, which had been lobbying long and hard for the product to be relicensed, said the re-registration had been a hugely frustrating process, which had seen politics rather than scientific evidence delay a decision.
Union president Andrew Mccornick welcomed the last-minute reprieve as good news for Scottish farmers:
“Glyphosate is vital to Scottish farmers who use it to control weeds, manage harvests, and reduce grain drying costs,” he said.
“It has been an unnecessarily protracted process, but finally the uncertainty for our members is over and they can start planning for next year, factoring the use of glyphosate into their cropping and harvesting plans.
“Off the back of such a difficult harvest and challenging planting conditions for so many Scottish farmers, the thought of not having such a useful and environmentally-beneficial product would have been daunting.”