Slow Food asks EU to stop Glyphosate

ROME - On 20 July 2017, the Commission restarted discussions with Member States on the possible renewal of license to use glyphosate for another 10 years.

 The Commission will look for the support of a qualified majority of Member States, and EU governments will be invited to vote on this proposal after the summer. Based on the outcome, the Commission will take a final decision before the end of the year, when the current EU glyphosate license expires.

 Slow Food calls to EU Member States to vote against the renewal of the glyphosate license recommended by the European Commission. It is important that the Commission does not reach a qualified majority.

 EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis has made reference to two EU agencies, the ECHA & the EFSA, saying that there was “no ground to classify glyphosate as carcinogenic.” It should be stressed, however, that in 2015 the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogenic for humans’ and France's leading newspaper Le Monde launched an investigative series on Monsanto, showing in extensive detail how the company has systematically sought to discredit, intimidate and silence any organization determined to show different results on the health hazards of glyphosate, including the IARC.

 Furthermore, over 1,300,000 European citizens have called for a total ban on glyphosate. On 3 July, the Stop Glyphosate coalition officially submitted 1,320,517 signatures to 28 national European authorities. This is a clear signal of European public opinion.

 Slow Food has called on the European Commission to meet the demands of European citizens, saying. they cannot accept ten more years of glyphosate use in the European Union; European citizens ask to be heard in the name of democracy and the protection of the public interest. The health and the environment cannot and must not be subject to the interests of multinational agro-industrial companies.

 Slow Food is a global grassroots organisation that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet. Slow Food involves over a million activists, chefs, experts, youth, farmers, fishers and academics in over 160 countries. Among them, a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members are linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide, contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize. As part of the network, more than 2,400 Terra Madre food communities practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.