France to ban glyphosate weedkiller by 2022

PARIS - 25 September 2017:France has decided to set 2022 as a deadline to phase out the use of glyphosate, the controversial active ingredient in one of the world's most widely used weedkillers, the government said on Monday.

Glyphosate is the main component in the best-selling herbicide Roundup produced by the US agro-chemicals giant Monsanto, but there have been concerns it may cause cancer.

The European Commission has proposed extending the license for the use of the chemical for 10 years, which France has said it will vote against and try to block.

"The prime minister... has decided that this product will be banned in France by the end of the government's term, as well as others that are similar and which are a public health threat," government spokesman Christophe Castaner told RMC radio.

Castaner said the government would set aside 5.0 billion euros ($6.0 billion) over President Emmanuel Macron's five-year term to support the development of an alternative to glyphosate.