After the renewed EU approval for the weed killer glyphosate, the restrictions on use in Germany are to be permanently enshrined. This is provided for in a regulation by Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens), which the cabinet approved on Wednesday. It is therefore prohibited to use it in home and allotment gardens as well as in water protection areas. In agriculture, for example, pre-sowing and post-harvest treatment on fields and large-scale use on meadows remain prohibited. The regulation still requires the approval of the Federal Council. Özdemir said it is important that farmers have legal and planning certainty about which resources they are allowed to use and how. The new regulation therefore specifies where glyphosate may not be sprayed or may only be sprayed in exceptional cases. In order to further develop agriculture, innovations and not an ideological adherence to an outdated active ingredient are needed. Modern plant protection only uses glyphosate as a last resort, as good professional practice suggests.
The regulation is intended to replace a previous emergency regulation. This had also lifted a national ban on glyphosate that was actually effective on January 1, 2024, which would no longer have been legally valid with the renewed EU approval. Restrictions that would otherwise be expiring were initially continued on a temporary basis. The EU Commission had extended the approval by ten years until 2033. The authority made the decision after there was no majority for or against among EU states. Germany abstained. There is controversy, among other things, about whether glyphosate could be carcinogenic. There are also dangers for the environment. A complex investigation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently found no unacceptable dangers, but did point to data gaps in several areas.