Glyphosate passes, again

EU member states re-assess and find popular contact herbicide unlikely to be carcinogen

The European Food Safety Agency and its EU member states recently released findings from a re-assessment of glyphosate. The report concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans. It also proposed a new safety measure that will tighten the control of glyphosate residues in food. The conclusion will be used by the European Commission in deciding whether or not to keep glyphosate on the EU list of approved active substances.

Jose Tarazona, head of EFSA’s pesticides unit, said: “This has been an exhaustive process – a full assessment that has taken into account a wealth of new studies and data. By introducing an acute reference dose we are further tightening the way potential risks from glyphosate will be assessed in the future. Regarding carcinogenicity, it is unlikely that this substance is carcinogenic.”

The peer review group concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to be genotoxic (i.e. damaging to DNA) or to pose a carcinogenic threat to humans. In particular, all the member state experts but one agreed that neither the epidemiological data (i.e. on humans) nor the evidence from animal studies demonstrated causality between exposure to glyphosate and the development of cancer in humans.