In a vote on Tuesday morning, a wide majority of MEPs sitting on the committee adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission “not to renew the approval of glyphosate” expiring at the end of June, “to withdraw its draft implementing regulation and to submit a new draft to the committee”.

A separate EU expert group, the Standing Committee on Phytopharmaceuticals, had postponed its vote on glyphosate renewal earlier this month.

A number of countries have made it clear that their representatives would oppose the regulation drafted by the European Commission, which proposes to renew glyphosate’s approval for the next 15 years.

New hurdles

MEPs added new hurdles to the process in their resolution, highlighting discrepancies between reports from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which classifies glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”, and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which found that “glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans”.

MEPs stated that “the draft Commission implementing regulation fails to ensure a high level of protection of both human and animal health and the environment” and criticised the EFSA for not disclosing all the studies used to reach its decision.

Beyond cancer risks, they raised additional human health issues related to the endocrine system, and called for additional restrictions and monitoring in any approval renewal for glyphosate.

”Thoroughly amended draft” required

Finally, they argued that the European Commission’s attempts to renew glyphosate’s approval with a simple “implementing regulation” submitted to the Standing Committee on Phytopharmaceuticals rather than full legislation going through the European Parliament is not compatible with current EU law.

The European Parliament is due to take a formal vote on the resolution during its plenary session between 11 April and 14 April and the environment committee said “the submission of a thoroughly amended new draft by the Commission will be crucial for the trust in and between the institutions of the European Union”.