Banned weed killer safe to use, says EU

The world’s most popular weedkillers should be safe to use, EU scientific advisers have said.

However, their advice contradicts findings from the World Health Organisation which warn of possible cancer risks.

Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides.

Genetically modified (GM) crops have been specially modified to survive being sprayed with it.

The Netherlands is to ban its sale for home use from 2016 and France has asked garden centres to remove it from sale. Some local authorities in Britain, along with municipal bodies in the US, have stopped using it.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said it is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans” as its German member assessed wide-ranging research.

Jose Tarazona, head of EFSA’s pesticides unit, said: “This has been an exhaustive process — a full assessment that has taken into account a wealth of new studies and data.”

The EFSA said the chemical was unlikely to damage people’s DNA, while all but one EU member state agreed that the tests on humans did not show it caused dancer.

The decision contrasts with a study from the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It said, that, based on a series of studies carried over several decades, glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans”. It confirmed that findings had been based on limited evidence linked to humans but also on strong evidence from tests on laboratory animals.

In Europe, it is mostly used to increase growth before harvesting while weeds are now growing that are resistant to the chemical. Residues are found in water and in food samples while it was found in farmers urine after they sprayed.

EFSA’s decision was immediately condemned by Greenpeace that said much of its report was take from unpublished studies commissioned by the producers of the weedkillers.

Greenpeace EU food policy director Franziska Achterberg said: “EFSA’s safety assurances on glyphosate raise serious questions about its scientific independence. The evidence of harm is irrefutable but EFSA has defied the world’s most authoritative cancer agency in order to please corporations like Monsanto.”

The authorisation for using the chemical runs out in June next year and, based on EFSA’s report, the European Commission technical committee is expected to recommend extending its use for another 10 years.

The EU’s Chemicals Agency is also investigating the health risks of the weedkiller but is not expected to report until 2017. Greenpeace wants the EU to delay any decision until this report is available.

Environmental and health organisations, including Greenpeace, have been called for years to ban glyphosate where people and workers are most exposed.

The Green group in the European Parliament said there should be an immediate moratorium on the use of the herbicide based on the WHO’s findings.

“However, the industry lobby has been actively sowing seeds of doubt to maintain its products on the market, at the expense of human health,” the Greens said, adding there are serious doubts over EFSA’s over-reliance on industry supplied data.

EFSA said it wants to limit the amount of exposure a person has to the chemical, the first time such a limit would be applied.