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A key committee in the European Parliament rejected a proposal Tuesday to halt an extension in the use of the world’s most popular weedkiller.
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety voted against the objection raised by ENVI Rapporteur Kateřina Konečná, a member of the Nordic Green Left faction, who tried to block extension of glyphosate. The herbicide created by Monsanto is best known by the brand name Roundup.
Sales of the herbicide, which is contained in 750 products, must stop in December if not given re-authorization. The Commission proposes to extend marketing to June of next year.
Environmental groups often cite a report by the World Health Organization that suggests links to cancer. That 2015 report by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer found “sufficient evidence in animals” to indicate glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
The European Crop Protection Association supports the herbicide, saying the report contradicted “the world’s most robust and stringent regulatory systems — namely the European Union and the United States — in which crop protection products have undergone extensive reviews based on multi-year testing” and were not found to pose a cancer risk to humans.
A Commission spokesman defended the policy.
“Extending the approval period by six months will give EFSA [the European Food Safety Agency] time to finalize its scientific conclusions on glyphosate,” Enrico Brivio said in a statement.
“On the renewal of the authorization, the Commission, in consultation with Member States, will take appropriate risk management action following the publication of the EFSA opinion,” he added.
Read full, original post: Bid to stop Monsanto weedkiller clears EU panel
