Sustainable Pulse has been made aware of a letter sent on December 19 by the Ministers of Environment or Agriculture of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Malta and Greece to the European Commission calling for a new study on the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate and also a study to identify alternatives to the World’s most used herbicide.

The letter was sent to the European Commission by Nicolas Hulot, Minister for ecologic and inclusive transition (France), Denis Ducarme, Federal Minister for Middle classes, SMEs, Agriculture and Social inclusion (Belgium) Carole Dieschbourg, Minister for the Environment (Luxemburg) Josè A. Herrera, Minister for the Environment (Malta) Dejan Zidan, Minister for Agriculture (Slovenia) and Evangelos Apostolo, Minister of Agriculture (Greece).

The letter states;

“The renewal of the authorization of glyphosate for 5 years was voted during the appeal committee of November 27th. While taking note of this vote, we, Ministers of Environment or Agriculture of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Malta and Greece underline our concerns about the risks associated with the use of products containing this substance. As a matter of fact, a European citizen’s initiative signed by more than one million people called for a ban of this substance.

The European Parliament has expressed its support for the adoption of necessary measures to phase out the active substance glyphosate in the European Union by 15 December 2022 at the latest. The European Parliament also asked for the extension of specific restrictions of use of glyphosate for weeding and pre-harvest desiccation. We wish to recall that our countries are in favor of the ban of these uses, which are the main sources of residues that can be found in food.