All authorisations for the use of glyphosate in Europe have been postponed due to pressure from political parties and civil society on Brussels. But it is too soon to celebrate.
Any decision on the renewal of the authorisation to use the herbicide glyphosate in Europe, which had been scheduled for 8 March, has been postponed "due to the growing opposition from member states – Italy included – and the pressure" from certain parliamentary groups such as the Socialists and Democrats. This was stated by the spokesperson for the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Pavel Poc, as reported by the press agency Ansa. The health harms caused by glyphosate are documented in the report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Iarc), which falls under the World Health Organisation (WHO) and has classified the herbicide as "probably carcinogenic".
At first it seemed that authorisation for a further fifteen years by the European Commission was a foregone conclusion. Then pressure mounted to the point where it was no longer so, given the need to guarantee – as required by the treaties – the precautionary principle with regard to all European citizens. The authorisation currently in force expires at the end of June.
"We know – Poc concluded – that more and more states are becoming aware of the risks of glyphosate and are concerned about the health of their citizens. Public health must be a priority. This lesson was learned with DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) years ago. We must not expose new generations to unnecessary risks."
Federica Ferrario, head of the sustainable agriculture campaign at Greenpeace Italy, shares the same view: "It is madness to renew the authorisation for glyphosate without waiting for the assessment by the European Chemicals Agency (Echa). As long as conflicting scientific opinions exist, glyphosate must not be approved in Europe."
For now, then, no one can claim victory, because the final decision, which had been expected imminently, has been pushed back to May. Glyphosate, which today is present in gardens, public parks and school grounds, through to the fields where food and raw materials for our clothing and cosmetics products are grown, may have its days numbered. Over the past ten years, more than six thousand tonnes of glyphosate have been sprayed on land across the world.