Update: European Commission confirms retreat from protecting public health with new pesticide authorizations – IUF

Many thousands of you responded to our appeals to call on the European Commission to reject renewed authorization in the European Union of the toxic herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and the world’s most widely-used herbicide. Our campaign and efforts by many other organizations resulted in an unprecedented level of public debate and pressure on the Commission.

But on June 28 the European Commission yielded to the agrochemical lobby and reauthorized the continued use of glyphosate despite mounting evidence of the harm it inflicts on public health, workers and the environment. The Commission acted unilaterally in the absence of a ‘qualified majority’ of EU governments and in the face of opposition from trade unions and civil society groups. The renewed authorization, which imposes few significant restrictions on glyphosate use at EU level, is valid for up to 18 months pending a review by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), where unions and public health campaigners will now be directing their efforts.

And now the European Food Safety Authority EFSA, whose industry-backed report served as the basis for the Commission’s push for glyphosate renewal, has introduced a protocol to EU pesticide Regulation 1107/2009 which would allow for a ‘derogation’ permitting the continued application of a group of highly toxic pesticides otherwise banned under the terms of the regulation.

These measures confirm the EU’s ongoing retreat from the precautionary principle, sustainable agricultural practices (under which pesticide applications are a last resort) and a hazards-based approach to protecting worker and consumer health and the environment.

The fight to defend worker and consumer health and safety and the environment continues – and we will continue to rely on your support.