German Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner said the glyphosate herbicide probably won’t have enough support to get permission for use in the European Union after 2022.
Germany should not follow Austria, whose parliament recently voted to ban glyphosate-containing products, Klöckner said in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel, pointing out that the EU’s removal of the chemical lasts until 2022. German politicians are working on plans to find safe alternatives, said Klöckner.
Glyphosate is a popular topic in Germany. Bayer AG acquired Roundup, the world's best-selling weed control with glyphosate as its active ingredient, as a result of the absorption of Monsanto Co. last year for $ 63 billion
Since then, the German drug and chemical manufacturer has lost three lawsuits in the United States from people claiming that Roundup caused their cancer - and its stock fell almost 40%.
EU laws require companies that wish to obtain approval for glyphosate to apply before December 15, three years before the expiration of the current permit. Agencies in France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden are responsible for conducting an initial evaluation of applications.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization, headquartered in Lyon, named glyphosate a probable carcinogen in 2015, but Bayer rejected this claim. The company says other studies and regulators have shown that the chemical is safe.
