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Please help us to stop the approval for 'toxic soybeans'!

Send a an email to Mr Jean Claude Juncker!

Mix of residues left in plants from combined spraying of herbicides raises health concerns

We are calling for the approval process for market authorisation of herbicide resistant genetically soybeans produced by Bayer and Monsanto to be stopped. These soybean varieties can all be sprayed with a combination of herbicides, such as glyphosate together with dicamba or isoxaflutole (MON87708 x MON89788 and FG72).

According to a recent toxicological dossier, the mixtures of these residues are thought to cause adverse effects on health, such as genotoxicity, liver toxicity and tumours. Consumers and farm animals could be exposed to a combination of these substances: The residues may be found in the harvested crops intended for import into the EU. However, the EU authorities have never assessed the combined toxicity of the herbicides.

In a letter to Testbiotech from January 2016, the Commission admits that “it is true that the legislation requires cumulative and synergistic effects of pesticide residues to be considered”. But it also states that methods to assess these health effects are not yet available.

If the EU Commission and the European Food Safety Authority EFSA are unable to assess the health effects of these mixtures because there are no methods available for this purpose, then market authorisation cannot be granted. EU regulations require the highest standards for the protection of consumers and the environment. In the case of the genetically engineered plants under discussion, the precautionary principle has to be applied and the application has to be rejected.

Please send an e-mail: www.testbiotech.org/en/toxic-soy

Further information: www.testbiotech.org/en/node/1548

Thank you very much!