Glyphosate vote delayed again - Kitchen Garden Magazine

A vote on renewing sales approval for the herbicide glyphosate, used in the weedkiller Roundup

The European Union has again delayed a vote on renewing sales approval for the herbicide glyphosate, used in the weedkiller Roundup, amid a transatlantic row over whether it may cause cancer.

Experts from the EU’s 28 nations were due to vote on May 19 on a proposal to extend the licensing of the herbicide, which is widely used by gardeners and farmers. The EU Executive had already postponed a vote on reapproval in March and shortened the proposed license from 15 years to nine. In April, the European Parliament recommended that glyphosate should only be approved for another seven years, and should not be used by the general public.

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Experts from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a risk to humans exposed to it through food. This finding matches that of the European Food Safety Authority, but runs counter to a 2015 study by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, which said that glyphosate can ‘probably’ cause cancer in humans. Environmental groups have called for the EU to err on the side of caution.

Find out more at http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-eu-glyphosate-idUKKCN0YA1M1

And if you want to avoid weedkillers altogether, check out Garden Organic’s advice on weed management at http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/weed-management

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.