Good news: The European Citizens Initiative (ECI) to ban the use of glyphosate and other toxic pesticides has reached 1 million signatures! It is the 4th ECI to have been fully successful. The organizers decided to close the petition early in order to start the analysis procedure the EU institutions are obliged to respond to.
Why the urgency? Because (and this is the bad news) the European Commission sent in a proposal which will re-authorize glyphosate for another ten years. EU Member States ministers met in Brussels on 19 July, surrounded by protests organized by the Stop Glyphosate team near the European institutions
The glyphosate license which was given an 18-month long renewal in 2016, is about to expire again. The first vote is expected to take place in autumn. If we want the precaution to take place, civil society should keep fighting and persuade the institutions not to give in to chemical industry associations.
Gruppo Suolo Europa 