An Appeals Committee made up of member state representatives will have one last opportunity to reach an agreement on the future of glyphosate herbicide use in the EU on 23rd June. Glyphosate’s approval period runs out at the end of the month and the EU Commission has been repeatedly frustrated in its attempts to secure relicensing for the world’s most widely used herbicide, due to persistent concerns over its health impacts.

The EU Commission had proposed an 18 month temporary relicensing period for glyphosate, pending the results of a review by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), which the Commission hopes will allay concerns that glyphosate could be carcinogenic or affect humans’ hormone systems (endocrine disruption). However, eight member states refused to back the Commission’s plans in voting on Monday. This is the third time the Commission has failed to win over member state experts, after attempts to relicense glyphosate for 15 and nine years were abandoned in March and May respectively.  

Late on Tuesday, EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis announced that the glyphosate vote will now go before an appeals committee made up of member state representatives on 23rd June. Regardless of the outcome of the appeals committee meeting, the Commission will have the final say on glyphosate.

Farm groups have vocally campaigned for the full renewal of glyphosate’s license; the leaders of the UK’s largest farm unions wrote to EU policy makers ahead of Monday’s vote, stating that there is “No well-reasoned argument holding back a full re-authorisation of glyphosate.” The farm groups said glyphosate - which is off-patent but is most recognisably sold as the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup product - is essential for farmers and that its loss would put European producers at a competitive disadvantage.

In their letter, the farm union leaders even defended controversial pre-harvest applications of glyphosate as a desiccant, saying this is a fuel and energy-efficient measure. The European Parliament called for a ban on the practice earlier this year, as it increases consumers’ exposure to glyphosate.  

Meanwhile, environment groups and sceptical governments have refused to back EU health watchdog EFSA’s opinion that glyphosate is not a carcinogen. They have instead supported the World Health Organisation’s cancer research arm IARC, which classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen early last year. The IARC assessment had a focus on transparency, replicability and testing glyphosate as it is found in products on the market, and the review has led to some concessions from the Commission in the EU’s risk assessment of pesticides going forward. However, arguments over the differing findings of EFSA and IARC have revolved in part around a series of studies made available to EFSA but not to IARC, and supplied by the Glyphosate Task Force, which is made up of manufacturers of the compound.

Glyphosate manufacturers have complained that the debate about their product has become ‘political’ and that the process is no longer focused on the science.

Commenting late on Monday Bart Staes, food safety spokesperson for the Greens in the European Parliament stated, "We applaud those EU governments who are sticking to their guns and are refusing to authorise this controversial toxic herbicide. There are clear concerns about the health risks with glyphosate, both as regards it being a carcinogen and an endocrine disruptor. Moreover, glyphosate's devastating impact on biodiversity should have already led to its ban.

“Thankfully, the significant public mobilisation and political opposition to reapproving glyphosate has been taken seriously by key EU governments, who have forced the EU Commission to back down.

"Three strikes must mean the approval of glyphosate is finally ruled out. After the third failed attempt, the Commission must stop continuing to try and force through the approval of glyphosate. Such a move would raise major democratic concerns about the EU's decision-making process. The process of phasing out glyphosate and other toxic herbicides and pesticides from agriculture must begin now, and this means reorienting the EU's Common Agricultural Policy towards a more sustainable agricultural model."