Monsanto representatives will be unable to meet with members of the European Parliament (MEPs), attend committee meetings or parliamentary inquiries. It is the first time MEPs have used the new rules to block access for companies that ignore a summons.
Members of parliament were said to be outraged by Monsanto’s decision not to attend a hearing on October 11 run by the environment and agriculture committees.
Green party president Philippe Lamberts told The Guardian:
Those who ignore the rules of democracy also lose their rights as a lobbyist in the European parliament … U.S. corporations must also accept the democratic control function of the parliament. Monsanto cannot escape this.”
The hearing was planned by government environmental and agriculture committees after evidence emerged that Monsanto manipulated the scientific assessments of glyphosate
The European Commission relied those assessments to decide whether to authorize the use of glyphosate — but they did not know Monsanto was behind the final conclusions until lawyers in the U.S. released a trove of documents related to lawsuits for people who used Roundup and developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
In June 2016, the European Commission granted an 18-month extension to glyphosate’s approval while they continued their safety review. A final ruling over whether to re-license glyphosate for another 10 years in the EU is expected by the end of 2017.
France has already stated that they will vote against extending the license, which means the use of glyphosate will be essentially banned by January 1, 2018.