As of: March 16, 2024, 6:49 a.m
By: Paula Völkner
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Özdemir wants to have the glyphosate ban examined, despite resistance from agriculture.
Will the controversial weed killer soon be taken off the market?
Berlin – The Greens have long been campaigning for a ban on the pesticide glyphosate.
Despite the efforts of Cem Özdemir, the Green Party's Minister of Agriculture, no restriction on the use of glyphosate in Germany has yet been achieved.
Now there is a chance that that will change.
According to reports in the
Bavarian Agricultural Weekly
, Federal Agriculture Minister Özdemir plans to re-examine the restriction on glyphosate.
This emerges from a draft bill that is available to the
weekly newspaper
.
It seems as if Özdemir wants to make another attempt to largely prevent the use of the controversial drug in Germany.
Glyphosate ban failed in 2023: FDP backed down
In 2023, the last attempt to ban glyphosate failed due to an EU vote.
After the European Commission extended the approval for glyphosate until 2033 in December 2023, Özdemir had to put his original plan to legally ban the drug on hold.
Instead, the Green minister introduced an emergency regulation that lifted the ban originally planned for January 1, 2024,
ZDF
reported .
This regulation is valid until June 30th.
Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir at the Green Party conference in November 2023 © Kay Nietfeld/dpa
As early as December 2023, Özdemir told
ZDF
that he wanted to revise the Plant Protection Application Ordinance “in the spirit of the coalition agreement”.
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP originally agreed to remove glyphosate from the market by the end of 2023.
However, the implementation failed because the FDP changed its position.
This was also the reason why Germany abstained from the EU vote.
Controversial weed killer: “Dramatic decline in biodiversity”
Glyphosate is controversial because it is suspected of being carcinogenic.
The impact on the environment is also a recurring theme.
Johann G. Zaller, Professor at the Institute of Zoology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, commented on the extension of the drug's approval to
Deutschlandfunk
: “The EU Commission's proposal reveals a systematic denial of the dramatic decline in biodiversity and scientific knowledge, that glyphosate contributes to this.
Impacts on soil organisms and soil health are not even mentioned in the proposal, although it is evident that soils across Europe are contaminated with glyphosate.”
Farmers criticize Özdemir's plan to ban glyphosate
Özdemir's draft bill provides for exceptions.
According to
the Wochenblatt,
the widespread use of glyphosate on permanent grassland will be banned from July 2024.
However, authorities could grant exceptions under certain conditions, such as severe weed infestations that require the use of glyphosate.
An exemption could also be granted for some invasive species.
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Farmers have recently often spoken out against a ban on glyphosate.
Criticism of a ban arose, among other things, because it would potentially make German farmers no longer competitive on the international market.
The Bavarian Farmers' Association has already criticized Özdemir's announcement that he wants to restrict the use of glyphosate.
(pav)
Our employee Paula Völkner wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at her own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.