Glyphosate under close US scrutiny
They were assembled by the US Environmental Protection Agency to analyse glyphosate’s cancer-causing potential, but they struggled to reach consensus.
The scientists now have three months to make a formal recommendation to the US EPA, which could strongly influence the agency’s eventual decision on new glyphosate restrictions.
In the US alone, use of glyphosate herbicides such as Monsanto’s Roundup approaches 300 million pounds annually, by weight.
Here in Ireland, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has confirmed that use of products containing glyphosate as a desiccant is currently restricted to oilseed rape only.
“All risk assessments supporting this use, conducted internally or by our EU or international equivalents, support the fact that this use is safe not only from an environmental perspective but also from a human toxicology point of view,” he told the Dail, in response to a question from the Labour Party TD for Longford-Westmeath, Willie Penrose.
A further review of glyphosate by the European Chemicals Agency is currently on-going.
This review will consider the classification of the active substance, and should be available in the later part of 2017.
Responding to a question from Independent Donegal TD Thomas Pringle, Mr Creed said his Department is aware of the publicity surrounding the report on glyphosate issued by a World Health Organisation (WHO) affiliate, the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) in which a supposed link between occupational exposure to glyphosate and a risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is cited.
“We are further aware that another WHO affiliate, the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) does not concur with this position.
“The conclusion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the regulatory authorities of other OECD countries, based on a large data set of high reliability and quality, identifies that glyphosate can be used safely.
"Indeed, in addition to the EU conclusions on glyphosate, the authorities of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have all published their reviews on glyphosate since 2015, concluding that glyphosate is probably not carcinogenic to humans, and they do not intend imposing any additional conditions on the continued use of glyphosate.”
