France’s ban on 36 glyphosate weedkillers

Thirty-six products used in agriculture and containing the controversial herbicide glyphosate must be removed from sale this year, France’s national safety agency Anses has ruled.

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The products, around half of them made by Monsanto, must no longer be sold after May 2020 and any stocks must be used by November 29 at the latest.

Glyphosate products have been linked to cancer in some studies and were banned in products used in private gardens from January 2019.

The withdrawn ones represented about three-quarters of the total of glyphosate products sold in France during 2018.

Currently, 69 products are on the French market.

The reason for the withdrawal of the 36 was that there was found to be not enough scientific data to show they do not pose a cancer risk.

Anses has been re-evaluating all the products used in France following the EU’s decision in 2017 to allow glypho­sate to be used for another five years.

It has refused to authorise four new products.