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Glyphosate is not to be classified as carcinogenic. This was decided by the Risk Assessment Committee of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and it intends to propose this assessment to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission. The EFSA must submit an opinion on the toxicity of glyphosate to the EU Commission by July 2023. It will derive from this a proposal for a regulation on whether or not to extend the authorisation of glyphosate in Europe.
Several environmental NGOs have sharply criticised the ECHA for its assessment. The NGO Générations Futures points out: "While the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had classified the herbicide as 'probably carcinogenic to humans' in 2015, ECHA did not even consider a category 2 classification (suspected human carcinogenicity)".
Toxicologist Peter Clausing of Ban Glyphosate explains in a statement: "To reach this conclusion, ECHA had to reject or ignore a large body of supporting evidence from a wide range of new and existing peer-reviewed publications. This includes, in particular, laboratory studies describing the carcinogenic mechanism of glyphosate and epidemiological studies indicating an increased risk of DNA damage and cancer in people exposed to glyphosate."
(al / source: vitisphere; photo: 123rf rafaelbenari)
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