Helmut Melzer
The hope was great, the promises numerous. And yet the most likely bee and environmental toxin remains Glyphosate in Austria, especially for agriculture, according to a draft law. The ban should only apply to private individuals. According to a recent survey, 93 percent of Austrians want a total ban on glyphosate.
Actually already decided
It was the end of Glyphosate already planned: A four-party majority (SPÖ, ÖVP, FPÖ, JETZT) passed a democratic majority in the Austrian parliament in July 2019 to ban the probably carcinogenic plant toxin glyphosate. For “purely formal legal” reasons, the law was not put into effect after all. The European Commission could have stopped the law with a legally binding objection - but did not do so. Then a ban on the probably carcinogenic plant poison was promised from January 1.1.2020st, XNUMX. And again nothing came ...
NGOS: "Political indictment"
The Austrian environmental protection organization GLOBAL 2000 criticizes the one presented today by the federal government as completely inadequate "Glyphosate ban light", which, along with agriculture, is by far the largest cause of Austria-wide glyphosate emissions (over ninety percent go to the account of agriculture!) de facto leaves out. "A glyphosate ban that only applies to private individuals is like a speed limit in road traffic that only applies to pedestrians," says GLOBAL 2000 environmental chemist Helmut Burtscher-Schaden, commenting on the draft law at hand.
For the environmental protection organization Greenpeace, the government parties' legislative proposal for a partial ban on glyphosate is an environmental indictment. After months of struggling to find a compromise on glyphosate, the federal government wants to restrict the use of the likely carcinogenic plant poison only for private users in house and allotment gardens and in sensitive areas such as the green areas of schools or public parks.
"It is no secret that the ÖVP agriculture ministry in particular is blocking the glyphosate ban and willfully endangering the health of people in Austria and the environment in favor of clientele policy. Minister Köstinger must finally give up her blockade attitude and ensure that we in Austria are adequately protected from the probably carcinogenic pesticide. There is no shortage of opportunities to keep Chancellor Kurz's promise to ban glyphosate and thereby comply with the will of the Austrian population ”, says Natalie Lehner, agricultural expert at Greenpeace in Austria.
A broad civil society alliance of 24 Austrian organizations from the fields of agriculture, beekeeping, health protection, environmental protection, nature protection, animal welfare, employee protection, consumer protection, development cooperation and church organizations is calling for a joint effort by the federal government Debt paper to make the waiver of glyphosate a prerequisite for receiving agri-environmental subsidies from public funds.
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