Greens/EFA urge the Council to ban glyphosate
Today, the Commission published their proposal to renew the authorisation to use glyphosate for an additional 10 years. The Council will now hold an exchange of views and is expected to vote on the proposal in mid October. Greens/EFA group urge the Council to not approve the Commission's proposed prolongation but instead ban the use of glyphosate within the EU.
Tilly Metz MEP, Greens/EFA member of the Agriculture and Rural Development committee, comments:
“Five years ago, we were very close to banning glyphosate in Europe, with millions of European citizens calling for it. However, in a very close vote in the Council of Ministers the use was approved for another five years. We don’t need glyphosate for productive farming, nor for weed control. On the contrary, the use of Glyphosate puts our long-term food security at risk and should therefore be banned.“
Bas Eickhout MEP, Greens/EFA vice chair of the Environment committee, comments:
“This authorisation would be another nail in the coffin for the Green Deal. Member States are expected to rubber stamp the renewed approval of glyphosate-use soon. It would be insanity to give the big corporations a blank check for another 10 years to earn billions by selling a pesticide for which there are still big gaps in knowledge about the effects on our health, and at the same time poses large risks for European biodiversity.”
More:
In the previous renewal decision in 2018, glyphosate was renewed for only 5 years due to massive citizen concern and doubts about its safety. The authorisation should have ended at the end of 2022, but an extension was granted to gather evidence of ecotoxicological impacts.
Read the Greens/EFA Group study on glyphosates impact on water
Read the Greens/EFA Group study on alternatives used to glyphosates
Greens/EFA petition urging the council to vote no to glyphosate
Glyphosate, the acting agent in Roundup, produced by Bayer-Monsanto, is a pesticide not only used in farming, but also in urban areas.
