An initial round of votes by the Committee that advises the EU Commission on licensing crop protection products has failed to support a proposal to renew glyphosate’s license for a further 10 years.The CLA say this is a "disaster for EU agriculture and Environment".

The proposal by the Commission, which was backed by the EU’s expert agencies, ended in deadlock as 16 countries including the UK, voted in favour of the renewal. However, the votes fall short of the threshold needed to reach a qualified majority, with two countries Germany and Portugal abstaining from the vote.

Diplomats said that the Commission is now going to consult member states to see if reducing the period of renewal could bring countries on board to support the relicensing of the widely used herbicide.

CLA Deputy President Tim Breitmeyer said: “We are grateful that the UK government has stood firm behind the scientific evidence and voted for the relicensing of glyphosate. It is vital to remember that the EU’s own expert agencies have concluded that glyphosate is safe. However, too many other EU countries have caved in to a concerted highly politicised scaremongering campaign.

“This decision not to allow the relicense is a disaster for agriculture and the environment. It will dramatically impact the ability of farmers to keep at  bay the spread of grassweed infestation and will ultimately harm the environment. It will force farmers to use a shrinking portfolio of narrow spectrum chemicals, encourage resistance in the seed bank and steer farmers away from conservation tillage.

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                      Conservation tillage systems can be used to decrease soil erosion

“We will urge the EU Commission to look at whatever can now be done to mitigate this disastrous and unnecessary situation.”

The vote follows one of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg earlier this week, where MEPs called for an end to use glyphosate by 2020. The CLA has worked with farming representatives from across the UK and the EU to call on all parts of the EU to follow the evidence and common sense.

The European Commission said in a statement that the relevant committee did not vote at a meeting today and that it would announce the date of the next meeting shortly.

The EU risk assessment process of renewing the substance’s licence is mired in controversy, as the UN cancer agency on the one side and EU food safety and chemicals agencies on the other pointed to different conclusions regarding its safety.

As concern for declining soil quality is coming to the fore Scott Partridge, Monsanto's VP for corporate strategy said there would be a " loss of topsoil, loss of moisture, " he said and that "They ( Europe's farmers)  would be very upset that a very effective and safe tool had been taken out of their hands". 

MEP Anthea McIntyre accused the EU saying “European Union officials and politicians are playing fast and loose with farmers' livelihoods and food security in their deliberations over a widely-used weedkiller”.

She added : "The EU's own public health agency has said there is no evidence to link glyphosate to cancer in humans. The national agencies in 27 member states take the same view.

"We have to base decisions such as this on science and clear evidence, not scaremongering and guesswork."

"I gather the next step will be for the Commission to hold another vote in November, but that is just weeks before glyphosate’s licence in Europe expires on December 15.

"The delay is playing fast and loose with farmers' livelihoods and with food security. It leaves farmers staring over a cliff edge as they face losing their most effective means of eradicating weeds and protecting crops and productivity.

"If we end up with a ban because of this political paralysis it will deal a heavy blow to the countryside economy and to the cost of food - but it won't do a thing for public health."