Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1381. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to ban the use of glyphosate here in the interest of public health. [41517/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department is aware of the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) report on glyphosate and its conclusions. However, we are also aware of the conclusions of another World Health Organization (WHO) affiliate (the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR)), which do not concur with the conclusions of the IARC.

Furthermore, we are cognisant of positive EU conclusions on glyphosate, which are largely supported by not only the JMPR but by the relevant authorities in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and others.

The conclusion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the regulatory authorities of other OECD countries is based on a large data set of high reliability and quality identifies that glyphosate can be used safely. The current evidence does not support the assertion that glyphosate presents a risk to public health and consequently my Department has no plan to instigate any such prohibition. A further review of glyphosate by the European Chemicals Agency is currently on-going. This review will consider the classification of the active substance and should be available in the later part of 2017. The EU approval of glyphosate will be further considered when this review is available and my Department will base any future decisions on glyphosate on the EU approval decision.