EU delays weedkiller decision amid cancer uproar

Glyphosate was first used in the 1970s as the active ingredient in the Monsanto herbicide Roundup, and is now made generically around the world.

Regulators from the 28 EU members states, in addition to the European Commission, met over two days to decide the issue, but failed to find a decisive majority to either greenlight or reject the glyphosate re-approval.

A European commission official who spoke under condition of anonymity told AFP that the meeting ended without a decision and that "member states' discussions will be continued at a next meeting of the committee."

There is time for further discussions "as the deadline for any decision on a possible re-authorisation of glyphosate is the end of June," the source added.

The commission, the EU's executive arm, deeply angered activists in November after its European Food Safety Agency published a report that said the chemical was "unlikely" to cause cancer, paving the way for re-approval.

Read the full article here: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-eu-weedkiller-decision-cancer-uproar.html#jCp