An EU court ruled Thursday that the bloc's food watchdog must make public studies about the toxic or carcinogenic nature of glyphosate, a key ingredient in weedkiller.

The General Court annulled decisions by the European Food Safety Authority "refusing access to the toxicity and carcinogenicity studies on the active substance glyphosate," the court said in a statement.

The Luxembourg-based court ruled on EFSA decisions in two cases brought by members of the European Parliament seeking access to studies.

"The public interest in having access to the information relating to emissions into the environment is specifically to know not only what is, or foreseeably will be, released into the environment, but also to understand the way in which the environment could be affected by the emissions in question," the court said.

The ruling is a "historic victory," said Michele Rivasi, a Greens MEP behind the court cases.

"If we had done nothing, the lobbies would be taking power. The lobbies must respect regulations and policies," the French MEP said.

Glyphosate has been at the heart of a health debate in the European Union.

Following months of deadlock, a majority of EU countries finally voted in November 2017 to renew the licence for the controversial weedkiller glyphosate for five years.

When the previous 15-year licence expired in June 2016, an 18-month extension was granted.

The European Commission recommended in early 2017 renewing the licence after EFSA ruled that glyphosate should not be classified as a carcinogen.

But the ruling still failed to ease concerns among member states and among the public.

Opponents of glyphosate, led by Greenpeace, pointed to research from the World Health Organization that concludes it may be carcinogenic, and have called for an outright ban.

Glyphosate was introduced in 1974 by US agro-giant Monsanto under the brand-name Roundup.

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