The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will open parallel consultations on the Renewal Assessment Report (RAR) and the Harmonised Classification and Labelling (CLH) report on glyphosate by 24 September. This step is part of the renewal process of the glyphosate which ends at the term of its authorisation in December 2022.
The draft Renewal Assessment Report (dRAR) was published on 15 June by the Assessment Group of Glyphosate (AGG) and concluded that there was a risk of causing “serious eye damage” and being “toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects”. You can read more about it in our July newsletter.
EuChemS on Glyphosate
The European Chemical Society (EuChemS) held the workshop “Glyphosate, Harmless Tool or Sneaky Poison?” at the European Parliament in 2017. Members of the European Parliament, policymakers, and researchers discussed the toxic potential of the chemical in health, environmental and plant protection domains.
The following conclusions made were:
- Increase transparency by making Horizon 2020 funding open studies linked to ECHA and EFSA dossiers
- Formulations and not just active substance should be assessed
- Daily intake is lacking evidence, more research needed
- Rethink the long-term unconditional authorisation
- Carcinogenicity, DNA damage but also ecotoxicity needs to be studied
- Current analytical method not well defined; need for standards methods with different samples
- Awareness for excessive use of glyphosate and on the experience of users