Greece approves Monsanto’s glyphosate weedkiller for 5 years

The Greek ministry of agriculture officially approved on Tuesday (6 March) the re-authorisation of the world’s most commonly used weedkiller, Monsanto’s Roundup, which contains controversial chemical substance glyphosate.

According to the decision, the authorisation to place the product on the market is granted from 6 March 2018 until 15 December 2023.

Greece was among the nine member states that opposed the EU’s plan to re-authorise glyphosate during a crucial vote last year. The reapproval was ultimately endorsed by a qualified majority thanks to Germany, which had previously abstained.

…ΕURACTIV has learned that [France] is willing to conduct a scientific research on glyphosate’s alternatives as well as provide additional data confirming that glyphosate’s use should come to an end at the end of the 5-year re-extension.

It is not yet clear whether these countries have asked for EU funding to do this research.

Sources explained that the reservations about glyphosate are not only limited to the health and environment aspects but also to its actual effectiveness, as in Greece, for instance, the chemical substance is not suitable for the rocky soil morphology and other chemical substances are needed. source

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant, its use is controversial and may put health and the environment at risk.

I March 2015 the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic in humans” (category 2A) based on epidemiological studies, animal studies, and in vitro studies.

In November, 2015, the European Food Safety Authority concluding that “the substance is unlikely to be genotoxic (i.e. damaging to DNA) or to pose a carcinogenic threat to humans,” later clarifying that while carcinogenic glyphosate-containing formulations may exist, studies “that look solely at the active substance glyphosate do not show this effect.

The WHO and FAO Joint committee on pesticide residues issued a report in 2016 stating the use of glyphosate formulations does not necessarily constitute a health risk, and giving admissible daily intake limits for chronic toxicity.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) classified glyphosate as causing serious eye damage and toxic to aquatic life, but did not find evidence implicating it to be a carcinogen, a mutagen, toxic to reproduction, nor toxic to specific organs.

PS our left-wing and green ministers in the Agriculture Ministry are doing a great job with the Greek lab rats… grrrrrrrrr