Eco Hvar

Green MEPs 'pissed off'

The Green Group of the European Parliament organized urine tests for the herbicide glyphosate on 48 volunteer MEPs. 

Our foodstuffs are inescapably contaminated Our foodstuffs are inescapably contaminated Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The results were announced in a Press Release on May 12th 2016.

Glyphosate showed up in all the samples. Shocking, but not surprising to those who know how widespread the use of glyphosate is.

The average contamination was 1.7 micrograms/litre, which is 17 times higher than the norm for European drinking water. The Croatian MEP tested had the third highest reading of urine glyphosate at 2.46 μg/L, with a Lithuania MEP showing the greatest concetration (2.84 μg/L), followed by a Hungarian MEP with 2.63 μg/L

Perhaps taking the lead from Eco Hvar's article in Total Croatia News entitled 'EU taking the piss', the Green Group announced they were 'pissed off that our governments want to allow this poison for another nine years! No politician should have this in his or her body, and not a single citizen either!'

The Press Release described the multitude of problems associated with glyphosate use, and the alternative techniques which would be safer and better for the environment and human health.

Sadly, the Green Group recognized that the European Commission was resolutely set on driving through renewed approval for glyphosate use in Europe, despite opposition from the informed public and some governments: “in its latest proposal that will be voted next week (19th May) the Commission ploughs ahead with a full-fledged approval of glyphosate's license for nine years. It considers only symbolically if at all the European Parliament's resolution calling for a very limited scope of approval. Responsibility for the protection of operators and for multiple risks is discharged onto Member States in a non-legally binding manner.” The EC had already ridden rough-shod over the Environment Committee's call for a ban on the poison.

To add insult to injury, in advance of a further vote on re-approving glyphosate, yet another supposedly reassuring statement was produced by the United Nations Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR), designed to fool the unwary into thinking that those opposed to glyphosate are simply scaremongering. Experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization concluded that glyphosate was “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet”. Yet another diversionary tactic designed to lull people into a false sense of security. The statement was publicized just a few days in advance of the further vote in the European Parliament.

It is hard to see the point of having such votes. Parliamentarians recommended a ban and several precautionary measures. Their receommendations were ignored, and they were asked to vote on a seven-year re-approval term, which was passed. Yet the next vote was asking for a nine-year approval. It would be the stuff of farce if teh consequences were not so tragic.

It is not the first time that poisons have been approved by the EC in defiance of opposition from governments, scientists and the public. Evidently proof of unacceptable risks cuts no ice with them. The European Parliament is sorely lacking in power, and its democratic processes are in total disarray. So it's down to individual governments and individual food producers and consumers to try to redress the balance as best they can. A stiff challenge - but everything is possible.

© Vivian Grisogono 2016 

back to top
You are here: Home highlights Poisons Beware Green MEPs 'pissed off'

Eco Environment News feeds

  • ‘These are human fires, not wildfires’: Dunwich reflects on the devastation

    As residents, nature wardens and experts consider the damage to the heathland and how to restore it, the climate crisis is foremost in their minds

    A local community pulling together, emergency services saving homes and caravan parks from catastrophe, and farmers and nature reserve wardens working to rapidly create fire breaks to halt a marauding fireball 40 metres high – there was plenty to praise the week after a swathe of east Suffolk burned.

    But local people were also in tears at the blackened, ruined state of more than 112 hectares (277 acres) of Dunwich Heath, mourning the devastation of a much-loved nature reserve alongside neighbouring Minsmere. The rare birds that inhabit the reserve have lost crucial habitat, while the rare invertebrate species there will have been “decimated”, according to the reserve staff.

    Continue reading...

  • Plastics contamination an ‘overlooked’ concern in food waste schemes, experts say

    Researchers find microplastics can persist in compost, leaching into agricultural soils

    Plastic contamination should be a central concern in efforts to deal with food waste, which campaigners call one of the most overlooked problems of the climate crisis, researchers have said.

    This is despite the fact that, as the chef, author and activist Max La Manna puts it, food waste management is “one of the few climate problems where everyone wins”.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: We’ve had fires here in the Cairngorms before. This one has changed things | Amanda Thomson

    Abernethy: It’s been a period of heartbreak and gratitude, mourning the scorched landscape and staying away from home when the smoke got too close

    Parts of the Cairngorms have been on fire for over three weeks. Many places I take for granted that I can walk to are off-limits. Huge swathes of moorland that should be purple with heather, understoreys that should be thick with blaeberries, granny pines and younger trees, are scorched black. In places, the fires has burned down into the tree root system and the peat layer, and may smoulder for weeks.

    It’s been a period of uncertainty and despair. I’ll never forget the day the wind changed direction and a huge plume of smoke rose behind the trees immediately beyond our house. We waited to see if we would be evacuated, gathered passports, important documents, medicines, and packed a bag of clothes. When residents of nearby Nethy Bridge were advised to evacuate, we stayed with a friend just outside the perimeter for the night, something I never imagined having to do.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Panda of the insect world’: the moscardón bumblebee creates buzz for invertebrate of the year

    Bombus dahlbomii, a giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse, is in decline in its native Patagonia due to commercial farming

    We all love bumblebees. Not only are they beautiful, busy and social, they perform pollination services that are crucial for plants, crops and human civilisation.

    Any bumblebee would be a worthy winner of invertebrate of the year but a gorgeous giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse? Come on!

    Continue reading...

  • ‘I couldn’t breathe’: the deadly health burden of wildfire smoke

    Scientists race to untangle complex links between exposure and mortality as fire weather grows more prevalent

    A thousand kilometres from the infernos gorging on northern Ontario’s boreal forests, Erin O’Connor watched the sky above Canada’s biggest city turn an “almost post-apocalyptic” orange as it filled with light-scattering particles of soot and ash. Stepping outside the halls of Toronto General hospital, where air filters were keeping patients safe from the worst of the fumes, she was struck by a smell so strong it felt like standing by a campfire.

    “It really hit you in the face as soon as you walked outside,” said O’Connor, who runs University Health Network’s emergency department and saw a rise in patients presenting with allergies and shortness of breath. “As the days progressed, it was like that everywhere. It seemed even inside you could smell that burning.”

    Continue reading...

  • Sadiq Khan calls on Andy Burnham to commit to climate action as pressure grows over North Sea oil

    London mayor points to ‘terrifying scenes’ this summer amid speculation Burnham may back Jackdaw and Rosebank projects

    Sadiq Khan has called on the government to commit to revamped climate action and to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas, as the UK endures a summer of drought, wildfires and heatwaves.

    Writing in the Guardian, the mayor of London said that Andy Burnham’s administration must reaffirm its commitment to net zero and make clear it will continue to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas “to get Britain back on track.”

    Continue reading...

  • The ornithological artist drawing 1,000 birds by hand – all for an app that wants you off your phone

    The mission of the Flock app is quietly subversive: to encourage users to ditch their screens and explore the wonderful world of birding

    On a brilliantly bright afternoon in his gallery and studio in Bolinas, a small town on the northern California coast, Keith Hansen was putting the finishing touches on a watercolor of an almost improbably flamboyant painted bunting.

    With an ultra-fine sable brush, he made a few intricate additions to the cobalt blue plumage on the bunting’s head, and, satisfied with his work, slipped the watercolor into a stout binder that every few days welcomes a new addition.

    Continue reading...

  • How clean air clubs are protecting Americans from wildfire smoke

    Mutual aid groups that started giving out PPEs during Covid are now loaning air purifiers and distributing masks to fume-addled communities

    Miquette Thompson’s home in rural Mendocino county has been covered in smoke all week. There are the nearby Feliz and Woodside fires in northern California, which have burned more than 1,000 acres, as well as the wildfires devastating Oregon and Washington that are sending smoke their way, too.

    “It’s become not unusual,” she said of walking outside and seeing a hazy sky.

    Continue reading...

  • Avoid rare species and only take what you need: how to forage and save money on your food shopping

    While there are fears that people harvesting their food could put pressure on habitats, some ecologists suggest responsible foraging can boost conservation and biodiversity

    Angus Morton crouches behind a cricket pavilion in a London park to snip stinging nettles from an unkempt patch of greenery.

    “They’re so abundant and they’re so good,” says Morton, a regenerative gardener who pops out once a week to forage bits for dinner. “I use them in pesto, tea … I’ve even seen someone putting them in croquetas.”

    Continue reading...

  • Blame game as Brussels builds ‘Europe’s largest frying pan’ instead of shady square

    Architect’s vision for redevelopment of heart of EU quarter unrealised amid political wrangling and rising costs

    The redevelopment plan for Schuman Square at the heart of the EU quarter in Brussels was very ambitious. From a traffic-clogged, nondescript roundabout, it would become “an urban agora”, a greener, calmer meeting place, nothing less, said a former head of the Brussels government, than “a symbol that beats as the heart … of the European project”.

    It did not turn out that way. The result, say critics, is Europe’s largest frying pan, a concrete expanse with little greenery or shade. While the number of cars has reduced and the space is remodelled with smart grey paving, the centrepiece – a steel canopy with a green roof – was never built.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.