Efsa: glyphosate is not a health concern, but not all uses are the same

The health and environmental impact of the herbicide glyphosate in general is of no "critical concern". But there are some data gaps and uses that present greater risks than others from an ecotoxicological point of view and these will need to be assessed by the EU and Member States when they examine the application for renewal of the substance's licence.

Glyphosate, a controversial molecule

These are the conclusions of the evaluation conducted by the European Food Safety Authority on the molecule widely used in agriculture which has been at the center of a heated controversy since 2015.

Some uses are riskier than others

In its assessment, EFSA highlights some gaps in data on specific areas and the fact that some uses (12 out of 23) present greater risks for mammals than others from an ecotoxicological point of view. But to get the details you will have to wait for the final publication of the conclusions expected at the end of July.

Due to the gaps, no conclusions could be drawn on the presence of an impurity in glyphosate, the food risk from residues on some rotation crops (lettuce, carrots and wheat) and the risk to aquatic plants. With regard to the risk for consumers, however, according to EFSA there should be no exceeding of toxicological safety levels.

On biodiversity, experts note the lack of harmonized methodologies and agreed specific protection objectives. Overall, therefore, the information available does not allow for definitive conclusions to be drawn on this aspect.

The risk of carcinogenicity is excluded

EFSA's opinion comes after the pronouncement of the European Chemicals Agency (Echa) which ruled out the carcinogenic risks of glyphosate. The agency's final dossier will be 180,000 pages with 2,400 studies examined and 400 contributions from the public consultation, it required a supplementary examination and almost three years of work, with an extension of the publication time.