On 16/04/16 17:31, Timothy Murphy wrote:
Hils wrote:

If it makes you feel happier. In the Netherlands only professionals,
excluding local authorities are allowed to use it.

Which seems to be the model towards which the EU is moving, but the
proposals will mean that the average European gardener, allotment holder
or smallholder won't be able to use glyphosate, since they won't be able
to pay the "professionals" who will presumably be licensed by the state.

I don't believe this issue has anything at all to do with the EU.
Has the UK government given the OK to glyphosate?
As far as I can see, most western governments, starting with the US,
seem to believe glyphosate usage should be limited, if not banned.
It's really a matter of the scientific advice they get,
and is not a political issue.
I doubt if many governments would like to legalize a weed-killer
that they were told was harmful to humans.

Alcohol? Tobacco? Government members do what they are paid to do by the
highest bidders, which are generally corporate vested interests. Those
interests, in this case primarily Monsanto, will be offering a lot more
after investing so much in developing glyphosate-dependent GM crops. For
decades Monsanto have built most of their development, marketing and
lobbying around "research" which is looking not so much shaky as
fraudulent. [1,2,3]

There is certainly opposition to gyphosate use in the US, but it has had
little impact so far: "In 2014, farmers sprayed enough glyphosate to
apply ~1.0 kg/ha (0.8 pound/acre) on every hectare of U.S.-cultivated
cropland and nearly 0.53 kg/ha (0.47 pounds/acre) on all cropland
worldwide." [4]

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8308903.stm

2. http://www.naturalnews.com/051450_gl..._Monsanto.html

3.
http://theantimedia.org/lawsuit-accu...ty-of-roundup/

4. http://enveurope.springeropen.com/ar...302-016-0070-0