France has banned ‘self-service’ sales of glyphosate-based herbicides (including Roundup), based on a UN agency’s recommendation that it could be carcinogenic, and Germany’s big ‘Baumarket DIY’ chain will remove all glyphosate products from its shelves by end September 2015.
French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal announced the ban to prevent home gardeners from buying glyphosate products without proper professional advice. Her move came after calls by the French consumer association CLCV to stop amateur gardeners from having such easy-access to glyphosate after the UN’s International Agency for Research on Cancer labelled it “probably carcinogenic”.
The IARC has found “limited evidence” linking glyphosate use to an increase in non-Hodgkin lymphoma among agricultural workers, identified in studies in the USA, Canada and Sweden. This claim is strongly disputed by Monsanto, which manufactures Roundup.
Royal has also announced that ‘phytosanitary’ products, used to control diseases in plants, will be available to home gardeners only through certified vendors after January 2018 and also that a full ban on pesticide sales to home gardeners will take effect from 2022.
The recommendation comes from the World Health Organization (WHO), not just a U.N. agency, they are the leading body on health and produce one of the most respected health publication available.