Dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment

The Appeals Committee of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed has today approved the European Commission's proposal to renew glyphosate’s licence for five years. Greens/EFA food safety spokesperson Bart Staes comments:

"This is a dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment. The decision taken today by a narrow qualified majority of Member States has locked the EU into another five years of toxic agriculture.

"The entire glyphosate saga has shown that our current approval process is completely unfit for purpose. Decisions on whether potentially harmful substances are permitted for use in the EU need to be taken much more transparently, and should not be able to ignore the view of the democratically elected European Parliament, or independent and publicly available science. There are also significant questions to be asked about the role of the EU agencies and the German BfR in the approval process.

"The campaign against glyphosate put a major dent in the arguments of the likes of Monsanto, and we will make sure we finish the job in five years' time."