BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission will renew its authorisation of glyphosate for a further 10 years, it said on Thursday, even though EU governments earlier failed to give a clear opinion on whether or not to extend the approval.
“To balance those considerations, the Commission will adopt a renewal of the approval of glyphosate for a period significantly shorter than the maximum possible, namely 10 years,” the EU Commission said in a statement.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Bayer AG’s Roundup weedkiller.
The World Health Organization’s cancer research agency concluded in 2015 that glyphosate was probably carcinogenic to humans, but other agencies around the world, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Chemicals Agency, have classified glyphosate as non-carcinogenic.
Bayer has said decades of studies have shown it is safe and the chemical has been widely used by farmers for decades.
EU approval was set to expire at the end of the year.
(Reporting by Phil Blenkinsop and Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Jason Neely)
