The EU has once again postponed a crucial decision on whether to re-authorise the probable human carcinogen glyphosate for use in pesticides, after failing to muster the required qualified majority.
Experts from all EU countries met in Brussels yesterday, after first postponing the vote in March, to decide on the European Commission’s proposal to re-authorise glyphosate for another nine years when its licence expires at the end of June.
Faced with opposition in France and Germany, however, the vote was postponed once more. If no decision is taken before June 30, glyphosate will no longer be authorised in the EU and member states will have to withdraw authorisations for all glyphosate-based products.
The Maltese government has so far refused to state its position on glyphosate, saying only that it is following all discussions.
The Environment Ministry and the pesticide regulator, the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, have both consistently referred all questions by this newspaper to the other entity.
Environmental NGOs have long called for glyphosate use to be suspended under the EU’s precautionary principle, which states that potentially hazardous protects should not be used unless they can be proven to be safe.
The chemical is considered a “probable human carcinogen” by the World Health Organisation cancer agency.
The Commission’s European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), however, published a heavily contested report in November stating that the chemical was “unlikely” to cause cancer, paving the way for re-approval.
A further study published this week by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation concluded that the chemical was “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet”.
The panel behind the study has since become embroiled in controversy over financial links to multi-national corporation Monsanto, a big lobbyist for glyphosate.
Maltese activists have planned a protest march against glyphosate, which will take place on Saturday in Valletta.