Glyphosate uncertainty in EU intensifies after court ruling

Use of the controversial weed killer glyphosate is again under the spotlight after a US court linked its use to cancer, sending its manufacturer's shares tumbling and provoking a hostile response from authorities around the world.

A San Francisco court ruled Friday that glyphosate was responsible for causing a groundsman in California to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, and imposed $250 million in punitive damages and $39 million in compensation.

Glyphosate – sold commercially under names including Roundup – is the world’s best-selling herbicide and was manufactured exclusively by Monsanto before falling out of patent in 2000.

Shares in Bayer, which recently bought Monsanto for $63 billion, had fallen 13.5% from their Friday close by 1230 London Time on Monday.

In November 2017, the EU renewed glyphosate's licence for a further five years after a protracted internal dispute that pitched farmers against a widespread popular campaign that had seen up to 1.3 million people petition for a ban, with the news set to reopen old wounds.

State response

Glyphosate’s use has provoked emotive reaction on both sides, with limited consensus on the product’s safety between international organisations, consumer safety groups and public authorities.

Over the weekend, France’s environment minister said he hopes the US case will put an end to the political indifference to the danger of the weed killer.

“The decision confirms what many whistle-blowers have been saying for so many years about the dangerousness of glyphosate weed killer,” Nicolas Hulot said in an interview with French daily Liberation on Sunday.

“This is where we will see if we have finally learned lessons, switch to another form of food and a new agricultural model will truly get rid of all these molecules,” Hulot said.

The French government is to put forward an official position on the use of Roundup by the end of the year as part the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) renegotiations.

And Germany’s government is now making noises that it would phase out the use of glyphosates within three years, despite playing a crucial role in passing legislation that extended the use of the chemical in the EU for five years.

The UK remained more guarded in its stance, telling Agricensus any decision on the use of the pesticide “should be based on a careful scientific assessment of the risks.”

“Once outside the EU, we will continue to make decisions on pesticides based on the best available science,” a Defra spokesperson said.

European Commission representatives also told Agricensus they could not comment on individual court rulings, but noted it was up to individual member states to decide their own policy on the use of glyphosate.

Corporate reaction

Monsanto and its parent company contested the ruling and said it intended to fight it at appeal.

“[This] decision does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews... support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer,” Scott Partridge, Vice President at Monsanto wrote in a statement.

“We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others,” Partridge said.

“While Bayer and Monsanto continue to operate independently, Bayer believes that the jury’s verdict is at odds with the weight of scientific evidence, decades of real world experience and the conclusions of regulators around the world that all confirm glyphosate is safe when used properly and in accordance with the label instructions and does not cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” a Bayer spokesman told Agricensus.