MEPs have voted for the controversial herbicide glyphosate to have renewed market approval for another seven years, rather than 15 as originally proposed, and to restrict usage to professional use only

The vote, which was non-binding, has also the Commission should reassess its approval of glyphosate in the light of its pending classification by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), under separate legislation.

Glyphosate has been on the market since 1974 and is one of most widely used herbicide but the EU Commissions decision to limit the renewal was based on concerns about the carcinogenicity and endocrine disruptive properties of the herbicide glyphosate, used in many farm and garden applications,

The Crop Protection Association (CPA) has responded to the vote by issuing a statement. CPA CEO Nick von Westenholz said; “It is important to note that the vote has no impact on the current use of glyphosate; consumers should rest assured that the product is still available and remains perfectly safe.

“Also, this vote is non-binding and does not affect the re-licensing process, it is still up to Member States and the European Commission to decide and CPA will continue to argue for the final decision to be taken according to the expert scientific advice of European regulators.

“After conducting their expert scientific evaluations, both Germany (as Rapporteur Member State) and EFSA considered glyphosate to be safe when used appropriately and concluded that glyphosate was not carcinogenic. In fact, no regulatory agency in the world classifies glyphosate as a carcinogen. This is in stark contrast to the surprising IARC classification of glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen”.

The NFU is pleased with the result. Last-minute amendments to the resolution, lobbied for by the NFU and adopted in the European Parliament, provide a clear mandate for the European Commission and member states to proceed with the re-authorisation of the active substance glyphosate.

NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “The result of this vote is very welcome news. It’s fundamental that the agricultural sector is able to use glyphosate responsibly in order to produce a healthy products across the sector entering the food chain, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and continue to farm sustainably.

“While the vote resulted in a generally favourable outcome, there remain areas of concern within the resolution that demonstrate the extent of misinformation and misunderstanding of the use of glyphosate on farm that could have influenced the re-authorisation process.”

The Soil Association is also claiming a victory for their ‘Not in my Bread’ campaign. The advisory vote includes strict limitations on pre-harvest dessication, which has been the focus of the Not in Our Bread Campaign.

National experts sitting in the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (Phytopharmaceuticals Section) will vote to adopt or reject the Commission proposal by qualified majority in May. If there is no such majority, it will be up to the European Commission to decide.