Articles

March 2016

Dear Sir or Madam,

Last Tuesday, 8th of March, the Standing Committee on Plant Animal Food and Feed (PAFF) postponed the vote on the re-approval of glyphosate in the EU. Unable to reach a qualified majority voting (QMV), the European Commission (EC) asked the Member States to give their suggestions by 18th of March.

With this letter we are seeking your immediate reaction on this matter and we’re hoping you will propose to suspend glyphosate’s re-approval in the EU.

In complete disregard to the growing scientific evidence on the toxic potential of glyphosate to humans, the environment, and agriculture, the EC proposal includes not only its authorization for nearly the maximum period possible (14 years) but has also increased the acceptable daily intake (ADI) by 66% (from 0.3 mg/kg to 0.5 mg/kg), i.e. higher amount of glyphosate residues will now be tolerated in our food.

Glyphosate-based weed killers are far from harmless. Last year, glyphosate was classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), as a “probable human carcinogen” (equivalent to carcinogenic category 1B in Europe). In Europe according to the Plant Protection Product Regulation (PPPR) 1107/2009 such a pesticide ingredient must not be authorised unless exposure is proven to be negligible (Article 4.1; Annex II 3.6.3).