PostedMay 31, 2022, 8:15 p.m.
After much comment, the European Chemicals Agency said the herbicide should not be downgraded. Authorization for use may be extended within the EU.
In France, agricultural organizations oppose the ban on glyphosate, pointing to the absence of an alternative product.
AFP
The available scientific evidence does not make it possible to classify glyphosate, a controversial herbicide used massively around the world, as a carcinogen, estimated on Tuesday, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). “ECHA’s risk assessment committee has formed its independent scientific opinion: the current classification of glyphosate does not change,” said the agency’s risk assessment director, Mark Rasenberg.
Glyphosate, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, is currently classified as ‘damaging to eyes’ and ‘toxic to aquatic environments’. “After a thorough review of the scientific evidence, the Committee once more concludes that a classification of glyphosate as a carcinogen is not warranted,” ECHA said.
Extend the authorization for five years?
This assessment is essential for the European Commission to decide whether or not to extend the authorization issued to the herbicide in the European Union. The current authorization, extended in 2017 for five years, expires on December 15, 2022, but it will be automatically extended until the end of the evaluation process, unless a particular risk is identified in the meantime.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and ECHA had postponed until July 2023 the conclusions of the first on “all possible risks of exposure to glyphosate for animals, humans and the environment”, a report initially expected in the “second half of 2022”, in order to be able to “take into consideration” hundreds of contributions.
The European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, said she was “deeply concerned” by this postponement. In March 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic” to humans.
An opinion by the end of September
The glyphosate assessment panel, made up of four rapporteur Member States (France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden), must submit an updated opinion to EFSA by the end of September, before a series of consultations and regulator’s findings.
Among European countries, France has set itself the goal of eliminating most uses of this weedkiller in 2021, before a total ban in 2023. Agricultural organizations oppose it, pointing to the absence of an alternative product.
(AFP)