On 9 December, 16 public interest organisations delivered a petition from over 100,000 Europeans to the EU Commission to ban glyphosate. Many of these groups are EDC-Free campaign partners and supporters including Corporate Europe Observatory, Ecologistas en Action, Fundación Alborada, Générations futures, Global2000, HEAL, PAN Europe, PAN Germany, WECF, and Wemos. Other groups include Campact.de, Nature Progres Belgique, Pesticide Action Network - Italie, Pesticide Action Network UK, Skiftet, and WeMove.EU.
The petition was handed over a day before the Standing Committee of Member States and the Commission met to discuss, for the first time, EFSA’s conclusion on glyphosate.
Earlier this year, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the WHO classified glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogenic’. This is the second highest danger level for cancer-causing chemicals that the WHO Agency assigns. In Europe, carcinogenic pesticides are banned from use in agriculture when they meet the criteria for classification set up in EU law. Yet last month, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published its report concluding that glyphosate “is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans”, a conclusion which enables the decision makers to give it a green light for its authorisation in the EU.
The petition available here and is still open to signatures which will be delivered to the EU Commission again in early 2016.
Post provided by PAN Europe and HEAL
