Germany plans new conditions for pesticide approval and will seek an end date for the use of glyphosate-based weed killers, Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said on [November 6].
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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and their SPD coalition partners agreed in February to limit glyphosate use, with the goal of ending use of products that contain it, but set no timeframe. Schulze, who is from the centre-left Social Democrat (SPD)party, said that “we want to push forward the withdrawal (of glyphosate), including an end date.”
“If other perhaps even more damaging pesticides are used instead of glyphosate, the environment won’t be any better off,” Schulze said, adding that the environment ministry will demand new nature conservation requirements for the approval process. A glyphosate ban would result in more ploughing, and put German farmers at a competitive disadvantage, said Helmut Schramm, head of Bayer CropScience in Germany.
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Although Schulze said she wants to limit glyphosate use in sensitive areas, such as near water, a ban cannot be imposed until late 2023 when the EU approval runs out.
Read full, original article: Germany seeking end date for glyphosate use: minister
