A decision by the European Commission on Thursday to renew its authorisation of the controversial herbicide glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer, for a further 10 years has provoked outrage from environmental groups.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Bayer's Roundup weedkiller and the most widely used herbicide in the EU.
Despite French President Emmanuel Macron pledging to ban the herbicide back in 2017, France was one of several countries that abstained from an EU vote.
This meant there was no "qualified majority" of 15 of the EU's 27 countries to swing the vote to either way.
Without that majority, the commission made a decision “based on the assessment made by EFSA [European food safety agency] of the impact of glyphosate on the health of humans, animals and the environment, and which did not identify critical areas of concern", it said in a statement.
France backtracked on its glyphosate promise following protests from farmers. The country wants to limit its use to instances where there is no viable alternative.
Greenpeace France described the country's decision to abstain from the vote as "shameful", adding that its "lack of courage" was "unacceptable".
Cancer links
Glyphosate is the main ingredient in the widely used Roundup weedkiller from US agrochemical firm Monsanto, which was bought by German chemicals giant Bayer in 2018.
Bayer has since faced a wave of lawsuits in the United States over claims that glyphosate causes cancer. The firm denies such claims, but has paid out billions of dollars to settle legal disputes.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer said in 2015 that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic".
France's medical research institute INSERM said in 2021 that glyphosate has a "moderate presumed link" with the cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Despite that, the European Chemicals Agency said last year the available evidence did not justify classifying the substance as a carcinogen.
The new EU approval includes a ban on using glyphosate before the harvest as a desiccant to speed up the natural drying process of crops, and also enforces measures to ensure it does not spread to plants it is not intended for.
The commission leaves the door open to revoking the use of glyphosate if scientifically warranted.
