:00:17. > :00:20.EU health experts are due to vote on whether or not to extend
:00:21. > :00:26.Industry say it's harmless and necessarry but opponents
:00:27. > :00:34.And we'll hear from Singaporeans what they think about the very
:00:35. > :00:36.strict regulations on car ownership that's introduced
:00:37. > :00:55.A two-year row over whether to ban the use of a common weedkiller
:00:56. > :01:00.EU health experts are due to vote on whether to extend the licence
:01:01. > :01:02.for glyphosate, a chemical used by farmers
:01:03. > :01:14.and gardeners across the world in the herbicide known as RoundUp.
:01:15. > :01:17.That question has stirred plenty of debate.
:01:18. > :01:23.Over a million people have signed a petition demanding it be banned.
:01:24. > :01:26.On Tuesday the European Parliament called for it to be phased out.
:01:27. > :01:31.Yet the European Commission wants the licence renewed.
:01:32. > :01:33.Now the decision will rest with the committee of health
:01:34. > :02:40.Joining us now Graeme Taylor, policy officer for ECPA
:02:41. > :02:46.which represents the crop protection industry in Europe.
:02:47. > :02:53.If there are any doubts about the safety of the product is the
:02:54. > :02:59.sensible thing not to restrict its use until proven otherwise? The
:03:00. > :03:04.first thing to say from our perspective as an industry, but most
:03:05. > :03:10.importantly from a scientific perspective, there is no doubt about
:03:11. > :03:17.the safety of glyphosate in Europe. There are 90,000 pages of evidence.
:03:18. > :03:20.3500 peer-reviewed studies. The opinions of the European Food Safety
:03:21. > :03:24.Authority and the chemicals authority all say that the substance
:03:25. > :03:30.is safe. It has been used safely for 40 years. There must be a reason why
:03:31. > :03:36.the European Parliament feels there is enough evidence on the contrary
:03:37. > :03:44.to call for it to be phased out? There's one study, a study that was
:03:45. > :03:50.done by an agency of the WHO, suggesting that glyphosate is
:03:51. > :03:55.possibly carcinogenic. We look at the hazard that is inherent in a
:03:56. > :04:01.substance. It doesn't look at the risk to people, to the environment
:04:02. > :04:08.when it is used. So it has been used... It has been misrepresented
:04:09. > :04:13.and it has cast doubt on the huge overwhelming body of science that
:04:14. > :04:19.exist that says it is safe. If things don't go the industry's way,
:04:20. > :04:25.if, for example, EU health officials were to ban or severely restrict the
:04:26. > :04:28.use of this glyphosate, which is used as weedkiller, what do you
:04:29. > :04:34.think the consequences would be for the industry, farmers across Europe?
:04:35. > :04:38.I think the consequences will be massive. I've spoken to farmers who
:04:39. > :04:43.said to me that quite frankly without glyphosate they will have to
:04:44. > :04:49.question whether they continue to have a viable business model. If you
:04:50. > :04:53.look at the impact on agriculture in the UK alone, you look at losing
:04:54. > :04:59.something in the region of 1 billion euros of farmer's income. It's going
:05:00. > :05:03.to have a huge impact on yield and potentially in the long run on the
:05:04. > :05:07.price that the consumer pays for their food every week. Many thanks
:05:08. > :05:11.indeed. Many firms in the US who do business
:05:12. > :05:15.in Asia are having problems To tell us more Rico Hizon
:05:16. > :05:31.joins us from Singapore. Good to see you. What's all this
:05:32. > :05:36.about? It is the clothing and footwear industry. They are
:05:37. > :05:41.specially worried and concerned. The associations which represents more
:05:42. > :05:47.than 1000 companies in America says Mr Trump's trade policy is confusing
:05:48. > :05:51.the set. -- the sector. Earlier I spoke to the president and CEO of
:05:52. > :05:59.the group and he told me the major problems. Any disruption to a major
:06:00. > :06:01.supply chain disrupts how we do business, which disrupts
:06:02. > :06:07.profitability, which disrupts how we get goods shipped. Anything that
:06:08. > :06:13.changes it. The president has managed to disrupt our top six
:06:14. > :06:17.trading partners in the US. He has actually gone after every single one
:06:18. > :06:24.of them. Who is number one? China. Number two, Canada. Number four,
:06:25. > :06:28.Japan. Number five is Germany, number six is South Korea. We are
:06:29. > :06:32.picking fights with all of them. That's not healthy our business. We
:06:33. > :06:38.can't plan. We don't know where to go next.
:06:39. > :06:42.China was at the top of the list. 38% of American clothes and footwear
:06:43. > :06:47.are made in the so-called factory of the world and Vietnam manufactures
:06:48. > :06:54.about 12%, a total of 50% from two countries made here in Asia. So the
:06:55. > :06:56.associations stresses that threatening these countries with
:06:57. > :07:02.tariffs will not help their businesses.
:07:03. > :07:05.Thanks very much and see you later. Staying in Singapore for a little
:07:06. > :07:07.while longer and returning to a story we touched on yesterday.
:07:08. > :07:10.Owning your own set of wheels is something many aspire to in Asia.
:07:11. > :07:13.But the perils of traffic jams and air pollution mean
:07:14. > :07:17.Unlike many other Asian countries, Singapore controls the number
:07:18. > :07:22.And from February next year, those regulations are getting
:07:23. > :07:32.The streets of Singapore are busy but orderly. There's a few of the
:07:33. > :07:36.traffic jams here that you see elsewhere in the region and there's
:07:37. > :07:39.a reason for that. That's because the Singapore government strictly
:07:40. > :07:44.monitors the number of cars allowed on the roads. At the moment there
:07:45. > :07:48.are about 1 million vehicles on the roads here in Singapore. It is an
:07:49. > :07:51.island of just over 700 square kilometres. That's roughly under
:07:52. > :07:58.half the size of London. That works out to about 1300 vehicles per
:07:59. > :08:04.square kilometre. About 600,000 of them are private cars and rentals,
:08:05. > :08:09.but starting next year the Singapore government says it will stop
:08:10. > :08:13.allowing the increase of the number of cars. According to the land
:08:14. > :08:17.transport authority, no more extra vehicles will be allowed on the
:08:18. > :08:23.roads, cutting the current .025% annual increase to zero until 2020,
:08:24. > :08:27.when the policy will be reviewed again. But it has divided opinion
:08:28. > :08:36.here. Recently with the new policy, what it means is the price of fuel
:08:37. > :08:42.will go up. Singapore being... In terms of car prices is on the high
:08:43. > :08:47.side, the highest in the world, so it basically will affect the overall
:08:48. > :08:51.cost of driving in Singapore. I do think that maybe the car prices will
:08:52. > :08:54.increase, but having said that I think people can maybe rely on
:08:55. > :08:59.public transport, which is still quite good in Singapore. I think it
:09:00. > :09:03.doesn't really affect me because I don't have any car. I think public
:09:04. > :09:07.transport here is fantastic, so it's good. The government blames the new
:09:08. > :09:13.policy on a lack of available land and investment in public transport.
:09:14. > :09:16.And they've pretty much already been controlling the number of cars on
:09:17. > :09:21.the roads for years. That's through a system of bidding for the right to
:09:22. > :09:27.own and use a car for a limited number of years. Factor in that cost
:09:28. > :09:31.and cars here are some of the costliest in the world and an
:09:32. > :09:36.average sedan would cost you four times more here than it would in the
:09:37. > :09:41.US. But it shows the lengths once more Asian country will go to limit
:09:42. > :09:44.car numbers at a time when many other countries are just waking up
:09:45. > :09:50.to the effects of traffic congestion and pollution.
:09:51. > :09:56.Don't forget, you can reach me and some of the team on Twitter. Back in
:09:57. > :09:56.a moment to look through the newspapers.
:09:57. > :10:03.Stick around. A man from the Scottish city
:10:04. > :10:07.of Stirling who'd been facing three