EU renews glyphosate as German farmers override French protest

The European Union has extended for a further five years the licence to use glyphosate as a pest control agent in Europe’s agriculture, but only after the protracted debate was taken to the Commission’s Phytopharmaceutical Appeal Committee.

The news came via a statement from the EU and apparently flies in the face of objections from France and a wider, populist campaign against the controversial pesticide had contributed to making this process particularly tortuous.

First approved for use in 2002, reports suggested that glyphosate use brought with it health concerns including possible links to cancer.

Following a full four-year scientific assessment, glyphosate was passed as fit for use in 2015 and “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans,” but controversy has lingered.

Initially, the EU sought a 10 year extension, but a lack of support saw the proposal pushed back until the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed cut the proposal to a five year licence and referred the decision to the Appeal Committee, which met Monday.

Germany’s role in the change has been key, with the leader of Germany’s main union of farmers, Deutscher Bauernverband, Joachim Rukwied, has maintained the need for glyphosate in German farming.

The Appeal Committee found in favour of the five year licence by 18 countries to nine with one country abstaining.

The motion appears to have split the European agricultural heartlands, with Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Romania and the UK all voting in favour, with France, Belgium and Italy opposing. Portugal abstained.