The European Commission proposed this Wednesday (20) to the Member States of the European Union (EU) to extend the authorization for glyphosate in the Community bloc for ten years, after a report from the regulator considered that the level of risk does not justify the ban the controversial herbicide does not.
The European executive’s proposal will be analyzed next Friday by the 27 EU countries, which are expected to validate it in October. According to the project, the use of glyphosate should be accompanied by “measures that reduce risks” in the surrounding sprayed areas, with “particular attention” to indirect effects on the environment.
The current authorization for glyphosate in the EU, extended for five years in 2017, expired on December 15, 2022, but has been extended for another year pending a scientific assessment.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced in its July report that it had not identified any “critical concerns” involving people, animals or the environment.It is. However, the use of the herbicide must be accompanied by “risk mitigation measures” regarding the surrounding areas where glyphosate is applied.
The EFSA found “an increased long-term risk involving mammals” for half of the proposed uses of glyphosate and acknowledged that a lack of data prevents a definitive analysis.
The Commission’s proposal asks Member States to pay attention to the impact on small mammals, and consider mitigation or mitigation measures if necessary.
“Irresponsible proposal”
The Commission’s proposal was criticized. For French MEP Pascal Canfin, from the centrist group Renovar Europa, this is an unacceptable project. He lamented the lack of “serious restrictions on the use of glyphosate.” “The proposal is not in line with EFSA conclusions,” he said.
Greens MEP Benoit Bitea also criticized the Commission’s proposal: “By destroying biodiversity, glyphosate endangers our long-term food security. This proposal is irresponsible.”
The NGO Pesticide Action Network Europe, for its part, pointed out that “industrial interests clearly take precedence over health and the environment”.
According to a European official, although the Commission has proposed renewing the authorization for the use of glyphosate, EU countries will be responsible for authorizing agricultural products containing the herbicide. “In an extreme case, countries could theoretically ban products containing glyphosate,” he explained.
Luxembourg had banned the sale of glyphosate at the end of 2020, before the courts forced the country to lift the restriction this year.
Glyphosate, an active ingredient in several herbicides, was classified as “probably carcinogenic” to humans by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015. The European Chemicals Agency determined last year that the available scientific evidence does not allow glyphosate to be classified as a carcinogen.
Source: DN
