As time is running out to renew the EU's license for glyphosate, lawmakers in the European Parliament approved a resolution on Tuesday that calls for the herbicide to be banned in the bloc altogether.

A majority of MEPs backed the proposal which recommends a "phase out" of the substance, first banning household use and then agricultural use.

By December 2022, glyphosate-based herbicides should be fully banned, lawmakers said in a statement.

Read more: 'Don't allow Monsanto's RoundUp,' US cancer victims warn EU

On Monday, activists who oppose glyphosate use gave the EU a petition signed by over 1.3 million people backing an outright ban of the herbicide in Europe. Greenpeace and other activists say that the weed killer causes cancer.

In its statement, the European Parliament also noted that the recent scandal over claims that US agricultural giant Monsanto influenced research into its herbicide's safety has raised serious concerns. Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Monsanto's RoundUp weed killer.

The revelations "shed doubt on the credibility of some studies used in the EU evaluation on glyphosate safety," the statement said.

Yummy, yummy glyphosate! Ice cream Glyphosate has been found in Ben & Jerry's ice cream samples from Europe, according to the Health Research Institute. The attested quantities could be a health risk, says the US-based Organic Consumers Association. Ben&Jerry's insists the levels of glyphosate detected "were significantly below all allowable US and European standards."

Yummy, yummy glyphosate! Grains When glyphosate is used to kill weeds on fields of wheat, barley or rye, it can find its way into bread, buns, cakes, cookies or any other baked goods. That's how the herbicide ends up in your Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream.

Yummy, yummy glyphosate! Breakfast cereals Take cornflakes and muesli. Yes, these are made from field crops that are also sprayed with a glyphosate-based weed killer like Roundup. A 2018 Environmental Working Group report titled "Breakfast With a Dose of Roundup?" noted that all but two of 45 products tested had oats with traces of glyphosate, but that 31 of these showed alarming levels exceeding its own child safety standards.

Yummy, yummy glyphosate! Water Glyphosate is also in our water. In the water? Indeed, even there! When the weed killer is used on cultivated fields, after it rains, glyphosate seeps into the groundwater, rivers and lakes. And this way, it turns up not only in our food, but also in beverages ...

Yummy, yummy glyphosate! Beer ... like the world's most popular chillaxing drink — beer. Several studies have shown small amounts of glyphosate in the beverage made from grains and water — although the more dangerous thing about beer may still be the alcohol content.

Yummy, yummy glyphosate! Honey And whoever, at the end of this list, believes it's okay to smear some honey on what is hopefully a glyphosate-free organic roll, is likely to be unhappy. Flowers that attract bees, and that grow near fields sprayed with glyphosate, are likewise affected, and could turn your sweet hopes into something fairly bitter. Author: Klaus Esterluss



Commission under pressure

Although the resolution is not binding, it ups the pressure on the bloc's executive arm, the European Commission, which had previously recommended the herbicide's license be renewed for 10 years.

Shortly after the European Parliament approved the glyphosate ban resolution, the Commission walked back its recommendation.

The Commission is now seeking a five to seven year renewal for the glyphosate license, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Read more: European regulators 'didn't even read' risk studies on Monsanto pesticide glyphosate

Experts from the EU's 28 member states are due to discuss the Commission's recommendation on Wednesday, but it is unclear whether they will vote on the measure or where each of the individual member states land on glyphosate use.

If there is no majority for the license renewal by the end of the year, glyphosate will be banned in the EU in 2018.

Read more: Keeping Europe's food safe and sustainable

Those who oppose glyphosate use cite a 2015 study from the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer which found that it was "probably carcinogenic."

That result conflicted with findings from the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency, which said the substance was not likely to cause cancer in humans. Those findings were also in line with a 2016 review of glyphosate conducted by WHO experts and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

rs/kms (AFP, dpa)