Glyphosate is expected to pass the EU rereview, and its safety has finally been recognized by EFSA-Zhongbang Registration Compliance

Glyphosate is expected to pass the EU rereview, and its safety has finally been recognized by EFSA

Apr. 18th, 2024

The EU review of glyphosate, which began with the submission of the application in 2019, is the most comprehensive and transparent assessment of a pesticide to date. Its rereview dossier contains more than 180,000 pages and 1,500 scientific studies, containing two to four times as much information as the average substance.

The EU review of glyphosate, which began with the 2019 application submission, is the most comprehensive and transparent assessment of a pesticide to date. Its rereview dossier contains more than 180,000 pages and 1,500 scientific studies, containing two to four times as much information as the average substance.

The huge review workload and its special status in the field of pesticides, destined its long and tortuous road to re-review, and now the safety evaluation of glyphosate has finally come to an end in the EU, and the re-review of glyphosate has begun to see the dawn.

EFSA evaluation Conclusion

On July 6, 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced the completion of the peer review of the glyphosate reassessment report and published its conclusions. — Assessments of glyphosate's effects on human health, animals and the environment have found no critical areas of concern. According to the current assessment results and corresponding use scenarios, glyphosate has not been found to pose significant risks of particular concern to human health, animals and the environment, and can therefore be considered safe for use.

This is another good news after the glyphosate cancer controversy and the EU endocrine disruption assessment.

Although EFSA's conclusions also indicate that there are still some data gaps, which will be considered by the European Commission and Member States in the next stage of the rereview process, it is not expected to be considered as a key factor affecting the success of the glyphosate rereview.

GRG success is in sight

The GRG (Glyphosate Rereview Group) welcomed EFSA's conclusions, saying that “ The completion of the peer review of the glyphosate Rereview evaluation report is an important milestone in the glyphosate Rereview evaluation process, which follows one of the most rigorous regulatory review processes in the world. EFSA's conclusions set the stage for glyphosate's successful reassessment in the EU.

Follow-up review steps

EFSA's full conclusions on the peer review of the glyphosate risk assessment have now been shared with the European Commission (EC) and Member States and are expected to be publicly available on EFSA's official website by the end of July 2023, while thousands of pages of background documents related to the peer review and risk assessment are expected to be published between the end of August and mid-October 2023.

In the next step, the EC will analyse the conclusions of EFSA and the Rereview Assessment Report (RAR) prepared by the Glyphosate Rereview Assessment Group (AGG) and will submit the rereview report and draft regulation to the Member States with a view to recommending the continuation or non-renewal of the approval of glyphosate. Representatives of EU member states will then vote on the draft regulation at the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF).

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