glyphosate

Responding to the news that the European Commission had granted a temporary licence to the controversial chemical glyphosate, Heidi Chow, a food campaigner with Global Justice Now said:

"Extending the licence for glyphosate for 18 months means another 18 months of hundreds of thousands of tons of a ‘probably carcinogenic’ chemical being sprayed on our parks, our farms and in our gardens.

Today was the EU’s third attempt to reach a decision about whether or not to relicense glyphosate for use in Europe. But, as with the previous two attempts to reach a decision on glyphosate’s European licence, the Expert Committee has yet again been unable to come to a decision. This was despite the fact that the original proposal to grant a 15 year relicense had been reduced to a 12-18 month temporary relicense.

A decision on whether or not to reapprove the controversial toxic substance glyphosate for use in Europe was today postponed for the second time. According to the European Greens,  the delay was "following disagreement among representatives of EU governments. A revised proposal by the European Commission to reapprove glyphosate for use in Europe for 9 more years, with almost no restrictions, failed to secure the required majority among EU governments."

The EU pesticides committee is meeting on 18/19 May and is expected to make a final decision on whether or not to relicense glyphosate, a chemical that is found in numerous over-the-counter weed killers. In 2015 the WHO released research that showed the chemical was “probably carcinogenic.”

Aisha Dodwell, a food campaigner with Global Justice Now said:

Activists across the UK are heading to DIY shops and garden centres to re-label bottles of Monsanto’s weed killer ‘Roundup’ with warnings that it contains the chemical glyphosate that the World Health Organisation has said is “probably carcinogenic”. The action is taking place with just over a week before the EU is set to decide on whether or not to relicense the chemical.