The European Commission has dropped its proposal for a 10 year license extension for glyphosate after the European Parliament called today for the weedkiller to be phased out in the next five years.

Europe has been debating the use of the herbicide for more than two years and reported by news agency Reuters; "Tuesday’s non-binding vote comes a day before representatives from the 28 EU member nations were due to meet in Brussels to discuss and give their view on a Commission proposal to extend the license for glyphosate by 10 years.

The European Parliament News Service reports that the non-binding resolution was adopted by 355 votes to 204, with 111 abstentions. EU member states will vote on a Commission proposal to renew the marketing authorisation of glyphosate on Wednesday 25th October 2017.

A European Citizen’s initiative calling for a ban on the herbicide reached more than a million signatures in less than a year and will trigger a public hearing in Parliament in November.

Other reports say that MEP's also demanded that the Commission and European Union member states immediately ban the use of glyphosate in households or public parks and on farms if other biological pest control systems were available.

In June 2016 the EU passed an 18-month extension to extend the license for 15 years. That expires at the end of the year.  The initial resolution put today called for glyphosate to be phased out by the end of 2020. However, an amendment pushed that back to December 2022.

See the full Reuters story here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-health-glyphosate/eu-lawmakers-demand-five-year-phase-out-of-weedkiller-glyphosate-idUSKBN1CT21H

and the EU Parliament News service at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20171020IPR86572/meps-demand-glyphosate-phase-out-with-full-ban-by-end-2022

Other reports about the vote can be found at: http://www.france24.com/en/20171024-eu-parliament-votes-ban-controversial-weedkiller-glyphosate-monsanto-roundup