EU commission to prolong use of controversial
herbicide glyphosate for 10 years
The European Union will extend glyphosate’s authorisation for 10 years, even though its member states failed to agree over the active ingredient in Bayer AG’s Roundup weedkiller.
Glyphosate has proved divisive since the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency concluded in 2015 that it was probably carcinogenic to humans. Other agencies around the world, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EU agencies, have classified it as non-carcinogenic.
The European Commission said on Thursday it would renew glyphosate’s approval based on European Food Agency and European Chemicals Agency safety assessments and subject to new conditions and restrictions, such as maximum application rates.
Bayer welcomed the EU executive’s decision, which was condemned by environmental groups including Greenpeace.
“This reauthorisation allows us to continue to provide important integrated weed management technology to farmers across the European Union,” Bayer said in a statement.
The German company, which acquired Roundup through its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto in 2018, faces thousands of cancer lawsuits from plaintiffs across the United States.
Glyphosate has been widely used for decades by farmers and in other uses such as to clear weeds from railway lines.
The Commission had proposed extending authorisation by 10 years and sought approval from the EU’s 27 member countries.
A more substantial “qualified majority” had been required either to support of block the proposal, but on Thursday and a month ago, the voting did not clear this hurdle.
Under EU rules, the Commission had to take a decision on authorisation which was due to expire on Dec. 15.
French pro-environmental farming group Confederation Paysanne called the decision and the approval process “scandalous”. France was among a number of countries to abstain.
Greenpeace said it was outraged by the decision, which was contrary to numerous opinions of scientists on glyphosate’s probable negative effects on human health and the environment.
Agriculture without glyphosate was possible, it said, and public policies should help farmers to phase it out. Farming group Copa and Cogeca said there was no equivalent alternative.
Individual EU countries will remain responsible for authorising plant protection products containing glyphosate.
(Reuters)
The Federal Court just overturned Ottawa’s
single-use plastic ban
The Federal Court overturned Canada’s ban on single-use plastic on Thursday, deeming the policy “unreasonable and unconstitutional.”
The decision found that the classification of plastics in the cabinet order was too broad to be listed on the List of Toxic Substances in Schedule 1 and the government acted outside of its authority.
“There is no reasonable apprehension that all listed Plastic Manufactured Items are harmful,” the decision read.
The decision has essentially quashed a cabinet order that listed plastic manufactured items, such as plastic bags, straws, and takeout containers, as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said in a statement that the federal government is “strongly considering an appeal” of the decision.
“Canadians have been loud and clear that they want action to keep plastic out of our environment,” he said. “We will have more to say on next steps soon.”
The decision has implications for the government’s ban on six single-use plastic items. The government is only able to regulate substances for environmental protection if they are listed as toxic under CEPA.
The decision found that it was not reasonable to say all plastic manufactured items are harmful because the category is too broad.
The regulations banning plastic items are already being phased in, with a ban on manufacturing and importing six different categories already in place, and a full ban on their sale and export planned by the end of 2025.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a statement that the decision “demonstrates a continued pattern of federal overreach intended to subvert the constitutionally protected role and rights of provinces,” and that the ban has had “wide-ranging consequences for Alberta’s economic interests.” She said the ban has put thousands of jobs and billions of investments at risk.
“Alberta is proudly home to Canada’s largest petrochemical sector, a sector with more than $18 billion in recently announced projects that were needlessly put in jeopardy by a virtue-signalling federal government with no respect for the division of powers outlined in the Canadian Constitution,” she said. She urges the federal government not to appeal the decision.
The case was brought by the Responsible Plastic Use Coalition and several chemical companies that manufacture plastics.
— with files from the Canadian Press.
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