Today, the European Commission failed to get enough support for its proposal to reauthorise the use of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used pesticide which is associated with risks of cancer and other health disorders, for another ten years. Member states’ representatives convening in the Commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) did not reach the required majority to adopt the proposal.
“The lack of majority support for the European Commission’s proposal to reauthorise glyphosate for 10 years shows that it has become politically impossible to ignore the state of the science on the substance’s health impacts”, says Natacha Cingotti, HEAL’s Health and Chemicals Programme Lead. “While we can’t undo the decades of exposure and associated health impacts that people have suffered, EU member states still have an opportunity to protect current and future generations from preventable harm by banning glyphosate as soon as possible.”
The European Commission’s proposal will now be submitted to the Appeal Committee, which is expected to discuss and potentially vote on the reauthorisation of glyphosate in the first half of November.
For a history of the glyphosate renewal process, please visit HEAL’s website.
Contact: Ivonne Leenen, Senior Communications Officer, ivonne@env-health.org
Some background about breastfeeding and pesticides and why these toxic products need to be banned and replaced by sustainable Agriculture.
1. Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) cause great harm to human health and the environment. Infants and young children are at the most vulnerable stage of development when they are exposed to the harmful effects of these dangerous chemicals. These include weedkillers/herbicides such as RoundUp as well as pesticides.
2. Breastfeeding counselors, and indeed everyone who works with future parents and the families of children of all ages, needs to inform everybody of the risks of using these products, especially through inhalation as well as through the skin (dermal contact).
IBFAN briefing: Breastfeeding and the Immune System