EU: Glyphosate license expiring

Witness at the Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague, Orctober 2016. © Karin Heinze 

Soon the EU member states will have to cast their vote for the final decision on the glyphosate license. On the 11th of October there will be an official hearing in the EU Parliament. Monsanto has been invited but will not show up, nor will BfR.

The license for glyphosate, active ingredient of Roundup herbicide, is expiring in the EU and it has created a huge discussion. Over 1.3 million EU citizens have signed an official request to ban glyphosate, to reform the pesticide approval procedure, and to set EU-wide mandatory reduction targets for pesticide use. In the discussion it has become clear that the report by Food Authority EFSA – based on a report by the German regulatory agency BfR – is not independent and relies heavily on studies by Monsanto and other large companies. The report even copied part of the text from a Monsanto study, explains the recent Monsanto Tribunal report. One of the largest EU member states, France, has previously announced it would vote against the renewal of the license for glyphosate.

Read more about the Monsanto Tribunal in our archive