On August 22 came into force in Italy the decree of the ministry of health that sets new limits on the use of and trade in a number of plant protection products containing glyphosate, an active substance widely used in pesticides.

The Italian measure just follows the recent recommendation made by the European Commission concerning restrictions on the use in public areas, recommendation that, however, is accompanied by an extension granted by the Commission to the use of glyphosate to the end of 2017, in pending a final opinion on the risks to health which must be issued by European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

The use of glyphosate authorization in Europe would have expired in 2012, but since then we proceed by extension in extension and the extension granted in June is already the third one in a few years. We pointed out that in March 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had already declared glyphosate "potentially carcinogenic" to humans.