No changes to the Glyphosate classification – classifying glyphosate as a carcinogen is not justified

On May 30th the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the conclusion of its review of the classification of glyphosate.

Based on a wide-ranging review of scientific evidence, the ECHA Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) concludes that classifying glyphosate as a carcinogen is not justified. Further, the committee found that the available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria to classify glyphosate for specific target organ toxicity, or as a mutagenic or reprotoxic substance.

RAC confirms the existing classifications for glyphosate which is consistent with the proposal of the four rapporteur Member States currently assessing glyphosate, Sweden, France, Hungary and The Netherlands.

The GRG welcomes the RAC opinion and remains committed to complying with all aspects of the ongoing EU regulatory process for the reapproval of glyphosate in the EU in a transparent manner based on robust science.

The RAC opinion will feed into EFSA’s risk assessment.  As a next step EFSA, in collaboration with the Member States, will complete its peer review and publish its conclusions.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the ECHA play different yet complementary roles in the assessment of active substances used in plant protection products. EFSA assesses exposure risks, while ECHA complements EFSA’s risk assessment by regulating how substances are assessed, classified, and labelled based on the hazardous properties they may have under the Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP) Regulation [(EC) No 1272/2008].

For any inquires please contact the grg@glyphosate.eu