25/10/2017 World Business Report

EU health experts are due to vote on whether or not to extend

Industry say it's harmless and necessarry but opponents

And we'll hear from Singaporeans what they think about the very

strict regulations on car ownership that's introduced

A two-year row over whether to ban the use of a common weedkiller

EU health experts are due to vote on whether to extend the licence

for glyphosate, a chemical used by farmers

and gardeners across the world in the herbicide known as RoundUp.

That question has stirred plenty of debate.

Over a million people have signed a petition demanding it be banned.

On Tuesday the European Parliament called for it to be phased out.

Yet the European Commission wants the licence renewed.

Now the decision will rest with the committee of health

Joining us now Graeme Taylor, policy officer for ECPA

which represents the crop protection industry in Europe.

If there are any doubts about the safety of the product is the

sensible thing not to restrict its use until proven otherwise? The

first thing to say from our perspective as an industry, but most

importantly from a scientific perspective, there is no doubt about

the safety of glyphosate in Europe. There are 90,000 pages of evidence.

3500 peer-reviewed studies. The opinions of the European Food Safety

Authority and the chemicals authority all say that the substance

is safe. It has been used safely for 40 years. There must be a reason why

the European Parliament feels there is enough evidence on the contrary

to call for it to be phased out? There's one study, a study that was

done by an agency of the WHO, suggesting that glyphosate is

possibly carcinogenic. We look at the hazard that is inherent in a

substance. It doesn't look at the risk to people, to the environment

when it is used. So it has been used... It has been misrepresented

and it has cast doubt on the huge overwhelming body of science that

exist that says it is safe. If things don't go the industry's way,

if, for example, EU health officials were to ban or severely restrict the

use of this glyphosate, which is used as weedkiller, what do you

think the consequences would be for the industry, farmers across Europe?

I think the consequences will be massive. I've spoken to farmers who

said to me that quite frankly without glyphosate they will have to

question whether they continue to have a viable business model. If you

look at the impact on agriculture in the UK alone, you look at losing

something in the region of 1 billion euros of farmer's income. It's going

to have a huge impact on yield and potentially in the long run on the

price that the consumer pays for their food every week. Many thanks

indeed. Many firms in the US who do business

in Asia are having problems To tell us more Rico Hizon

joins us from Singapore. Good to see you. What's all this

about? It is the clothing and footwear industry. They are

specially worried and concerned. The associations which represents more

than 1000 companies in America says Mr Trump's trade policy is confusing

the set. -- the sector. Earlier I spoke to the president and CEO of

the group and he told me the major problems. Any disruption to a major

supply chain disrupts how we do business, which disrupts

profitability, which disrupts how we get goods shipped. Anything that

changes it. The president has managed to disrupt our top six

trading partners in the US. He has actually gone after every single one

of them. Who is number one? China. Number two, Canada. Number four,

Japan. Number five is Germany, number six is South Korea. We are

picking fights with all of them. That's not healthy our business. We

can't plan. We don't know where to go next.

China was at the top of the list. 38% of American clothes and footwear

are made in the so-called factory of the world and Vietnam manufactures

about 12%, a total of 50% from two countries made here in Asia. So the

associations stresses that threatening these countries with

tariffs will not help their businesses.

Thanks very much and see you later. Staying in Singapore for a little

while longer and returning to a story we touched on yesterday.

Owning your own set of wheels is something many aspire to in Asia.

But the perils of traffic jams and air pollution mean

Unlike many other Asian countries, Singapore controls the number

And from February next year, those regulations are getting

The streets of Singapore are busy but orderly. There's a few of the

traffic jams here that you see elsewhere in the region and there's

a reason for that. That's because the Singapore government strictly

monitors the number of cars allowed on the roads. At the moment there

are about 1 million vehicles on the roads here in Singapore. It is an

island of just over 700 square kilometres. That's roughly under

half the size of London. That works out to about 1300 vehicles per

square kilometre. About 600,000 of them are private cars and rentals,

but starting next year the Singapore government says it will stop

allowing the increase of the number of cars. According to the land

transport authority, no more extra vehicles will be allowed on the

roads, cutting the current .025% annual increase to zero until 2020,

when the policy will be reviewed again. But it has divided opinion

here. Recently with the new policy, what it means is the price of fuel

will go up. Singapore being... In terms of car prices is on the high

side, the highest in the world, so it basically will affect the overall

cost of driving in Singapore. I do think that maybe the car prices will

increase, but having said that I think people can maybe rely on

public transport, which is still quite good in Singapore. I think it

doesn't really affect me because I don't have any car. I think public

transport here is fantastic, so it's good. The government blames the new

policy on a lack of available land and investment in public transport.

And they've pretty much already been controlling the number of cars on

the roads for years. That's through a system of bidding for the right to

own and use a car for a limited number of years. Factor in that cost

and cars here are some of the costliest in the world and an

average sedan would cost you four times more here than it would in the

US. But it shows the lengths once more Asian country will go to limit

car numbers at a time when many other countries are just waking up

to the effects of traffic congestion and pollution.

Don't forget, you can reach me and some of the team on Twitter. Back in

a moment to look through the newspapers.

Stick around. A man from the Scottish city

of Stirling who'd been facing three