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Ban glyphosate and protect people and the environment from toxic pesticides We call on the European Commission to propose to member states a ban on glyphosate, to reform the pesticide approval procedure, and to set EU-wide mandatory reduction targets for pesticide use. Ban glyphosate-based herbicides, exposure to which has been linked to cancer in humans, and has led to ecosystems degradation; ensure that the scientific evaluation of pesticides for EU regulatory approval is based only on published studies, which are commissioned by competent public authorities instead of the pesticide industry; set EU-wide mandatory reduction targets for pesticide use, with a view to achieving a pesticide-free future.

Why is this important?

Did you know a poisonous, potentially cancer-inducing chemical could be present in your body?[1, 2] This is possible because our food is being sprayed with it. In fact, scientists have found traces of the hazardous chemical Glyphosate in the urine of nearly 1 in 2 people tested.[3]

Glyphosate is a common pesticide, used on everything from food to gardens. The World Health Organisation has labelled it as “probably carcinogenic”. It is also very harmful to plant and animal life. In short, it’s a pretty damaging pesticide.

In Summer 2016, after a long campaign by hundreds of thousands of Europeans, the European Commission was unable to relicense the use of Glyphosate for 15 years, but instead had to settle for a short 18 month renewal. This was a huge success achieved in the face of intense lobbying by the chemicals industry. But big producers of weed killers like Monsanto are still lobbying to protect their profits. Their deep pockets have been paying for “studies” and “expert” opinions to show that their product is safe.

On July 3 we officially submitted 1,320,517 signatures to the authorities as our European Citizens’ Initiative.

Now, the European Commission has issued its formal response to the #StopGlyphosate European Citizens Initiative (ECI).[4] It officially recognised the submission of more than one million signatures on 6 October. The Commission responded to the ECI by saying it had no scientific or legal grounds for a ban of glyphosate and that national European governments had voted in favour of a five-year licence. Like this, the Commission ignores the fact that whole pages in the report on glyphosate by the German Federal institute of risk assessment, on which the reasoning of the Commission is based, were evidently copied from Monsanto's application portfolio. This is not independent and scientific working. Read the entire report of the research conducted by an expert on plagiarism. In addition, the Commission should have taken into account the classification of the UN cancer research agency, the existing scientific evidence on the unacceptable environmental risks posed by glyphosate and significant public concern.[5]

The Commission’s proposal to increase data transparency is a partial and misleading response to the ECI’s demand that EU pesticide approvals be based only on fully published studies. Existing EU law already provides for the release of the studies, as confirmed by the European Court of Justice.[6] EFSA has withheld data contrary to this ruling. A number of members of the European Parliament have therefore brought a case against it.[7] Monsanto and Cheminova are supporting EFSA in this case.[8]

Despite all these facts, on 27 November, a qualified majority of governments voted to approve the Commission’s plan to grant a five-year unrestricted licence to glyphosate. However, some leading powers fight against this decision. France is leading a group of governments that want to end the use of glyphosate and the European Parliament has called for a full glyphosate ban within five years, starting with a partial ban from 16 December 2017.[9, 10]

We still collect signatures, which help grow the pressure on the decision makers. The Commission must take action against governments that fail to implement the sustainable use directive. Take action now: sign our petition against Monsanto’s cancer-inducing poison.

References

[1] The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) found only four tumour incidences in the revealed studies, whereas an independent scientist reviewing the raw data found 21 tumor incidences. All details to be found in the open letter send by Christopher Portier to Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission from May 28, 2017.

[2] The authority concerned with the classification of Glyphosate is the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) http://www.bfr.bund.de/en/home.html, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), http://www.efsa.europa.eu/ and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), https://www.echa.europa.eu/

[3] Our community organised the European Citizens’ Initiative together with: Campact, Corporate Europe Observatory, CEO, Global 2000 Greenpeace, Health and Environment Alliance, HEAL,, Pesticide Action Network, PAN Europe, Skiftet , Danmarks Naturfredningsforening and more than 90 other European organisations.

[4] https://stopglyphosate.org/en/

[5] Evaluation of five organophosphate insecticides and herbicides by UN agency for research on cancer: https://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/MonographVolume112.pdf

[6] Press release, Court of Justice of European Union: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2016-11/cp160128en.pdf

[7] Case against EFSA’s withholding of data: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=193437&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1332248

[8] http://extranet.greens-efa-service.eu/public/media/file/1/5420

[9] Weedkiller vote poisons European politics: https://www.politico.eu/article/glyphosate-renewal-shakes-germany-france-italy/

[10] MEPs demand glyphosate phase-out, with full ban by end 2022: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20171020IPR86572/meps-demand-glyphosate-phase-out-with-full-ban-by-end-2022

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