Despite the request of more than 1 million European citizens to ban the use of the herbicide glyphosate, the European Commission decided to renew the licence for this weedkiller for ten more years.
Though the proposal to extend the license for 10 years did not receive a majority of member states voting either for or against, the commission will make its final decision before 15 December when the current approval period runs out.
In the statement released on 16 November explaining the decision, the commission refers to safety assessments carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). However, it also recognizes the EU member states’ right to restrict glyphosate use if they consider the risk too high, particularly for biodiversity and non-targeted organisms. Thus, the Commission recognizes the toxicity of glyphosate but decided to renew the license anyway.
One of the reasons for such a move is the assessment made by ECHA that “dismissed important carcinogenicity findings and neglected evidence that glyphosate induces oxidative stress, a recognized mechanism that can lead to cancer.” It is important to note that a toxicity assessment of the entire product, which is necessary for decision-making, has not been carried out. No data are available for some ingredients; others are potentially carcinogenic. That said, peer-reviewed studies show the formulation (MON 52276) used in Europe causes various diseases in animal studies. These data suggest that the license renewal for glyphosate violates EU law, which states that a pesticide can only be approved if it has been shown not to cause carcinogenicity or long-term toxicity.
