Defra Secretary of State Thérèse Coffey has supported continued access to the glyphosate herbicide in the UK. Her comments come as the European Commission proposes a return to its traditional ten year authorisation period for the active ingredient.
Speaking at an NFU reception in Parliament this week, Dr Coffey pledged that farmers and growers would continue to have access to glyphosate once the UK’s post-Brexit pesticides regulation regime is in place.
“The science is clear. The farmers need glyphosate. It is critical to regenerative farming. It is staying. Government policy on glyphosate will be led by the science,” she stated. “Since I’ve been in post, we have given an absolute commitment to continuing glyphosate. We’re not going to be put off course by lots of other campaigns.”
Her statement comes in the same week that the Commission has proposed a ten year extension to glyphosate’s current EU approval which expires on December 15th. Controversially, the active was authorised for just five years in 2017 (when the UK was still an EU member), with a further one year extension in 2022, reflecting the opposition from some quarters.
But in July this year the European Food Safety Authority published its peer review of the risk assessment of the herbicide, which found no critical areas of concern.
Glyphosate is currently authorised for use in the UK until December 2025, following a three-year extension as the UK’s independent regulatory system for pesticides is developed.