The European Commission looks set to make France the new lead evaluator in an overhaul of the safety assessment of glyphosate. The Commission wants to see a transfer of responsibility from Germany to France, a country that wants to ban glyphosate – the weed-killing active ingredient – in three years.

The license for glyphosate was renewed for five years last November, with a last-minute U-turn by Germany, the current safety evaluator, ensuring that enough votes were received in favour of renewal.The issue was on the agenda of the last hearing of the Commission’s Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF) Committee held on 19 and 20 July. 
 

The move from the Commission may come as a result of controversy over the previous German-led assessment and the close vote for the renewal.