The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has not identified any areas of critical concern during its peer review of the risk assessment of the active substance glyphosate, in terms of the risks it poses to human and animal health or to the environment, EFSA announced in a press release on Thursday 6 July, provoking an outcry from NGOs.
EFSA’s review focused on the assessment carried out by the four Rapporteur Member States (France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden) for the EU glyphosate authorisation renewal procedure.
A concern is defined as critical when it affects all proposed uses of the active substance under evaluation (e.g. pre-sowing uses, post-harvest uses etc.), specified EFSA.
To reach this main conclusion, which was expected a year ago, EFSA drew on the conclusions of a hazard assessment by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in May 2022, which did not changed the classification of the active substance glyphosate, considering that it is still not a probable carcinogen (see EUROPE 12962/12).
EFSA does, however, acknowledge some data gaps relating to, among other things, “the assessment of one of the impurities in glyphosate, the consumer dietary risk assessment, and the assessment of risks to aquatic plants” as well as the risks to biodiversity.
According to EFSA, these factors must be taken into account by the Commission and the Member States - the risk managers - to whom it has sent its conclusions, which are not yet public. They were initially expected in 2022, but the delay has led to a one-year renewal of the authorisation (see EUROPE 13077/6).
A scandal, according to NGOs. For a broad coalition of NGOs, including Corporate Observatory Europe and PAN Europe, which launched the ‘Stop Glyphosate’ European Citizens’ Initiative, EFSA’s conclusions are “shocking”, “a slap in the face” to nature and citizens, and “a slap in the face to many independent scientists”, given the new data available since the controversial renewal in 2017 and the ‘European Green Deal’ legislation currently being examined under the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy and the EU’s 2030 biodiversity strategy.
They are calling on the Commission to propose a ban on glyphosate and on Member States to support it.
“The glyphosate scandal continues. This EFSA advice is beyond any logic. Many new independent studies show the negative impacts of glyphosate on health and the environment. EFSA acts like nothing has happened the past decade: no IARC, no Monsanto Papers, no juridical victories in the US by glyphosate victims, no numerous other scientific findings since then”, summarises Angeliki Lysimachou, a researcher at PAN Europe.
She also pointed out that the European Parliament had set up a special PEST committee to provide a full picture of shortcomings in the EU pesticide authorisation procedure and to try to correct these through recommendations (see EUROPE 13174/12). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)