Consumer health and environmental protection in Europe prevailed over agrochemical ‘lobbies’ in the penultimate ’round’ of glyphosate debates. But victory is not yet a foregone conclusion.
Only one member country, Malta, has had the courage to come out openly against renewing the authorization to use the poisonous pesticide. Seven others, including Germany, France and Italy abstained from voting on the Commission’s proposal for an ‘interim’ authorization, for another 18 months, pending further risk assessment (this time by Echa, the European Chemicals Agency).
European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis-in proposing ‘laissez faire,’ surely to the liking of the TTIP negotiators-had tried to downplay the scope of the decision, arguing that member states would still be able to introduce restrictions and bans on their territories. It will now try again to come to an agreement with national representations, or take the risk of making its own decision.
The alignments are less clear than they may appear. Agricultural confederations in member countries, such as Coldiretti in Italy, speak out against it. But the ‘confederation of agricultural confederations in Europe,’ Copa-Cogeca, away from the spotlight, militates in support of the ‘RoundUp. With the ‘under-the-radar’ favor of multinational food corporations, and the manifest favor of the ‘Corporations’ of ‘agrotoxicos’ (Monsanto, Bayer, Basf, etc.).
The battle against glyphosate , on the other hand, is led by environmental associations and supported by more than 2 million signatures, 150,000 in Italy alone, on a petition calling for a definitive ban on this endocrine disruptor, which numerous scientific studies have confirmed poses serious risks of genotoxicity and carcinogenicity.
Our view on glyphosate is clear, we believe it is a weapon of mass destruction that should be banned planet-wide. We have written about this on several occasions (1), devoting precisely to so-called ‘agrotoxicos’ a central chapter in the ebook ‘GMOs the Big Scam.
The Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, ISPRA, in its recent analysis report 2013-2014 (2), reveals widespread pesticide pollution in water in Italy. Despite pioneering integrated pest management in agriculture, and Italian ‘leadership’ in ‘organic’ production in Europe.
The massive use of glyphosate-in fields, as well as in gardens and public parks-also resides in human organisms (3).
Across the Atlantic Ocean, sentient beings or unwitting guinea pigs?
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/news-food-times/armi-di-distruzione-di-massa-il-glifosato, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/news-food-times/glifosato-ora-basta
(2) http://www.isprambiente.gov.it/it/pubblicazioni/rapporti/rapporto-nazionale-pesticidi-nelle-acque-2013-dati-2013-2014
(3) http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/29/urine-test-monsanto-glyphosate, http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/12/mep-glyphosate-urine-test
