May, 19 2016, 08:45am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kevin Smith:
T (+44) (0)20 7820 4913 or (+44) (0)7711 875 345.
E kevin.smith@globaljustice.org.uk
W www.globaljustice.org.uk/
Delayed EU Decision on Glyphosate Relicensing--Global Justice Now Response
Print quality photos of Monsanto bottles relabelled to warn of cancer risk can be found on flickr.
WASHINGTON
A decision on whether or not to reapprove the controversial toxic substance glyphosate for use in Europe was today postponed for the second time, following disagreement among representatives of EU governments. A revised proposal by the European Commission to reapprove glyphosate for use in Europe for 9 more years, with almost no restrictions, failed to secure the required majority among EU governments.
In response Heidi Chow, a food and agribusiness campaigner at Global Justice Now said:
"The ongoing stalemate over glyphosate is the result of two powerful and opposing forces. One on the one hand you have an enormously influential agribusiness lobby, made up of companies like Monsanto who's Roundup weed killer contains glyphosate and accounts for almost a third of their total earnings. And on the other side you have over a million citizens across the EU who have signed a petition saying they don't want toxic chemicals like glyphosate to be so widely used when there are such enormous risks over being carcinogenic. The EU keeps delaying the glyphosate decision, but it will need to soon decide whether it's interests are aligned with public health or corporate profits."
In early May pressure group Global Justice Now, which has a long-standing campaign against the corporate control of food systems, sent over 500 'Monsanto Exposed' brandalism packs to activists across the country. The packs contained labels that have been designed using the distinctive branding of Monsanto's Roundup weed killer. The spoof labels warn that the product is classified as 'probably causing cancer' and that Monsanto's corporate control of agriculture 'degrades farmers' power'. Activist groups are being encouraged to wrap the labels around bottles of Roundup in garden centres across the country and share images on social media with the hashtag #MonsantoExposed.
Global Justice Now is a democratic social justice organisation working as part of a global movement to challenge the powerful and create a more just and equal world. We mobilise people in the UK for change, and act in solidarity with those fighting injustice, particularly in the global south.
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