EU to decide on glyphosate after political impasse

An impasse between EU nations on whether to allow Monsanto’s Roundup and similar herbicides to continue to be sold means that the European Commission, rather than national politicians, will decide on the issue next week.

On Friday in Brussels, an appeals committee of representatives from the EU’s member states failed to agree on whether to extend the licence for the herbicide glyphosate after it expires next week.

Contradictory findings on the carcinogenic risks of the chemical have pitted farming and chemical lobbies against consumer and environmental groups.

The Appeals Committee was activated as member states failed to reach an agreement on the Commission’s compromise proposal on glyphosate.

Environmental groups have been calling for a ban after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organisation, said in March 2015 that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said in November 2015 that glyphosate was unlikely to cause cancer in humans and proposed higher limits on the amount of residue of the weed killer deemed safe for humans to consume.

At the EU Plants Animals Food and Feed Committee on 6 June, member states did not manage to reach a qualified majority on whether to push forward the Commission’s proposal to re-authorise glyphosate for 12-18 months, until the ECHA gives a scientific assessment of the substance.

France, Germany, and Italy abstained from the vote, while Malta was the only member state that voted against, an EU source told EurActiv.

Clash over glyphosate studies

In the meantime, Greenpeace recently blamed the Commission for not being an “honest broker” in the glyphosate discussion.

Greenpeace claims that the executive discussed with glyphosate producers how to handle a request for access to confidential industry-backed studies that allegedly clear glyphosate of a link to cancer, following criticism about the EU’s reliance on such studies.

In addition, the environmental NGO said that Health Commissioner Andriukaitis subsequently misled MEPs about this exchange, as he denied having discussed with industry representatives preparing a public letter exchange and finding an arrangement with glyphosate producers.

Greenpeace EU food policy director Franziska Achterberg cited recently that Commissioner Andriukaitis said he wanted transparency, but then misled elected representatives about what he was doing behind closed doors.

“This raises serious questions about whether the Commission is an honest broker on glyphosate and whether it truly believes in open and transparent science,” Achterberg noted, adding that people deserve to see the evidence that the Commission is relying on to contradict the world’s most eminent cancer experts. “The studies must be made public,” she underlined.

Use in Malta

One of the precautionary measures displayed on the label of a glyphosate-based weed killer used across the world, Monsanto’s Roundup, is that the product should only be used in fine weather and in temperatures not exceeding 25°Celsius.

The product is used widely in Malta.

The fact that the product cannot be used in temperatures exceeding 25°Celsius and that it can only be applied in fine weather raises questions as to when the herbicide can actually be applied safely in Malta since the only time the weather is relatively calm is during the summer months when temperatures exceed 25 degrees.