The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which has come in for harsh criticism over the lack of transparency in the studies that preceded the reassessment in the EU of the toxicity of glyphosate, announced on Thursday 29 September that it would report the study data collected from the industrial studies that were used in the assessment carried out by the EU and its member states (see EUROPE 11583).
This will be done in the framework of its commitment to promote transparency in risk assessment, EFSA added. The study data will be shared with the group of members of the European Parliament who brought the initial request for public access to the documents.
This is a "very important and welcome step towards greater transparency of the scientific evidence used by regulators", said Martin Pigeon of the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), in a press release published on Friday 30 September. The fact that the scientific community is able to examine these study data is particularly important in the case of glyphosate, he explained, as the EU's assessment had concluded that it was unlikely that the substance is carcinogenic. For the future, CEO calls for complete, unrestricted and proactive online publication of essential regulatory data.
The Green MEPs Martin Haüsling (Germany) and Michèle Rivasi (France) complained recently that they were unable to access 71 redacted toxicology studies that the industry finally agreed to disclose, other than in reading rooms, and called for complete transparency (see EUROPE 11609). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)