Top-selling weedkiller wins EU extension for five years
The European Union voted Monday to extend its authorization for the world’s best-selling herbicide for an abbreviated period of five years in the face of opposition from several member states, including France and Italy.
The herbicide, glyphosate, is the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and in weedkillers made by other companies. It has been the subject of an unusually lengthy and contentious review process in Europe amid claims and counterclaims about its risk of causing cancer.
The drawn-out deliberations have frustrated parties on all sides. Agrochemical companies have criticized the review process as driven more by politics than science after it became clear that the weedkiller’s use would not be reauthorized for the 15 years typical for such chemicals, or even for 10 years. Environmental advocates have said that the agrochemical industry has tainted scientific reviews in Europe by meddling in them.
With the herbicide’s registration set to expire next month, 18 of the union’s member states voted in favor of extending its use for five years, nine voted against the proposal and one abstained. The vote was weighted by population size.
“Today’s vote shows that when we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decisionmaking,” said Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European commissioner for health and food safety.
Germany, which had abstained in a previous round of voting on reauthorizing the chemical’s use, appeared to help sway the outcome. Although Angela Merkel, the chancellor, has been unable to form a coalition government after the country’s recent election, the caretaker government swung its support in favor of the weedkiller.