EU decision makers must act now and vote no to new licence
Berlin/Amsterdam, 4 November 2017 – Today over 200 people formed a human banner at the Tempelhofer field in Berlin to demand that the EU bans glyphosate. On Thursday, 9 November, representatives of the EU’s 28 governments will vote on a proposal by the European Commission to renew the authorisation of the weedkiller for another five years. The message “Vote NO” formed by EU citizens called on Europeans decision-makers to reject the proposal.
This activity was organised by the #StopGlyphosate European Citizens’ Initiative, which collected more than one million signatures to ban Europe’s most used herbicide [1]. It is backed by a broad, pan-European coalition of 38 environmental and health organisations from 15 countries, including Avaaz, Campact, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), Greenpeace, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN-EU) and WeMove.EU.
Herman van Bekkem, project lead of the European ecological farming project at Greenpeace Netherlands said: “Over one million Europeans and the European Parliament want to see glyphosate banned. They cannot be ignored. It is time to take the future of farming out of the hands of big corporations, who just want to make a profit, and put it into the hands of responsible farmers and consumers. Our politicians need to hear this message loud and clear: they must protect citizens and the environment by banning this dangerous weedkiller and putting us on the path towards a pesticide-free future.”
David Schwartz, European Citizens’ Initiative coordinator at WeMove.EU said: ”The ECI to stop glyphosate was the fastest ever citizens’ initiative to succeed in collecting the required signatures. European governments must take the concerns of its citizens seriously. Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides has been linked to cancer in humans, and has led to severe degradation of ecosystems.”
The World Health Organisation’s cancer experts have said glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, is a probable cause of cancer in humans. The EU licence for it expires on 15 December 2017. The European Commission has proposed renewing EU approval for another five years. The European Parliament has called for a ban on glyphosate within the next five years, starting with an immediate ban on private use, use in or close to public parks, public playgrounds or public gardens, and agricultural uses “where integrated pest management systems are sufficient for the necessary weed management”.
Notes to editors:
[1] European Citizens’ Initiative to #StopGlyphosate https://stopglyphosate.org/en/
VNR - Video News Release http://act.gp/2zbrkVm
Pictures of the activity to be found here http://act.gp/2zbrkVm
Contacts:
Herman van Bekkem - Project lead ecological farming project at Greenpeace Netherlands : +31 6 29 00 11 40, herman.van.bekkem [at] greenpeace.org
Christine Gebeneter - European communications coordinator ecological farming project at Greenpeace Netherlands, +31 6 39 01 09 82, christine.gebeneter [at] greenpeace.org
