As voters in the UK go to the polls tomorrow to decide Britain’s future in the European Union, an Appeal Committee made up of EU member state representatives will hold an eleventh hour vote on license renewal for glyphosate - the most widely used and possibly most controversial herbicide in Europe - approval for which expires at the end of the month.

The vote was called at the beginning of June, after member states failed to agree on three Commission proposals for license renewal this year, most recently a temporary approval period of 18 months to allow for the publication of research into health impacts of glyphosate use, ordered by the Commission.

In recent months, as the debate over glyphosate has intensified and public interest has increased, pesticide manufacturers have complained that the vote has become ‘political’ and claimed the relicensing process is no longer focused on science. Farm unions have said they rely on the herbicide to remain competitive on the world stage and defended glyphosate use - including controversial pre-harvest applications, which MEPs have said risk increasing exposure of the public to glyphosate residues.

Environmentalists and civil society groups have said the EU should take a precautionary approach on the issue, and Bart Staes, food safety spokesperson for the EU parliamentary greens, said earlier in the month that the glyphosate debate has provided policy makers with a chance to begin “Reorienting the EU's Common Agricultural Policy towards a more sustainable agricultural model.”

Soil Association reviews health impacts

On the eve of the glyphosate vote, organic agriculture organisation the Soil Association called on the EU Council Appeal Committee to reject the renewal proposal on Thursday. The organic farm group backed the EU Parliament’s demands - made in April - that glyphosate should be banned for non-professional users, use immediately pre-harvest and in public spaces. The Parliament has complained that the Commission has not taken its position seriously enough.   

Soil Association has published its own review of scientific research into glyphosate’s effects on soil and soil life.

Emma Hockridge, head of policy at the Soil Association said, “Considering how long glyphosate has been in use, it’s extraordinary how little is known about its environmental impact. This ignorance – and indications of potential new problems – adds weight to the demands for a ban on glyphosate based on the threat it poses to human health.”

Even so, large farm unions deny that glyphosate causes any problems when used correctly. At the Cereals Event last week, NFU’s Vice president Guy Smith said the deadlock over glyphosate reapproval has “Highlighted how vulnerable Europe really is when it comes to pressure from NGOs.” Mike Hambly, chair of NFU’s combinable crops board, said,“Glyphosate is a case in point of how pressure from campaigners can warp the regulatory processes – this is why the farmers’ story is so important. I am encouraging farmers to be vocal; we need to talk openly about why we need plant protection products to enable us to be viable farming businesses.”

On Wednesday, the Soil Association’s Emma Hockridge said,“Our soils are vulnerable and threatened – any potential threat to soil health needs to be taken very seriously. Some scientists have claimed UK soils may only have 100 harvests left and two all-party Parliamentary committees have released reports on soil health in the past few weeks. As a minimum, we are calling on EU Member States to implement the recommendations of the European Parliament, and ban the use of glyphosate on crops immediately before harvest, and to ban all use in public spaces and gardens.”