Brussels, 11/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Along with the extension until 31 December 2017 of the glyphosate licence in the EU will, indeed, come a, EU-wide ban on the co-formulant POE-tallowamine and Commission recommendations to the member states restricting the use of glyophosate, the total herbicide which has, for months, been fuelling controversy, against a backdrop of conflicting opinions from the WHO and EFSA (EUROPE 11583).
Member state experts on the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF committee), meeting in Brussels on Monday 11 July, gave qualified majority approval to the two proposals for Commission decisions on this issue (EUROPE 11578).
A total of 22 member states voted for and six (Austria, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta and Sweden) abstained.
POE-tallowamine contained in certain glyphosate-based products is toxic, hence the Commission's proposal that it be banned across the EU. The Commission recommendations on the restrictions on the use of the herbicide state that the member states should minimise use of glyphosate in public parks and playgrounds, and step up checks during the pre-harvest period.
These now approved decisions will be published in the Official Journal of the EU, Commission spokesperson Enrico Brivio announced. They will apply for the duration of the licence extension. The member states, unable to gather a sufficiently large majority, had previously failed to approve the decisions, to the great surprise of Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis (EUROPE 11582).
The decision temporarily to extend the glyphosate licence was quietly and without fuss adopted by the European Commission on 29 June, just as the European summit on the outcome of the UK referendum on Brexit was taking place. The member states had been unable to find a qualified majority, as required by the comitology procedure, either to approve or to reject the proposal. The Commission hopes that, before the end of 2017, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) will have delivered its opinion on the toxicity and classification of glyphosate, in particular its carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting properties. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)