Glyphosate Safety Record
Before we are allowed to sell plant protection products, they need to undergo strict evaluation by authorities for each country to ensure they pose no unreasonable risk to humans or the environment.
For this purpose, we need to submit hundreds of residue, toxicological, eco-toxicological, environmental, physical-chemical, and efficacy studies. All this scientific information is compiled in a registration dossier, containing individual study reports, summaries and risk assessments, including proposals for risk mitigation.
These dossiers are submitted to regulatory authorities around the world who review the submitted data and risk assessments, and grant or deny approval of active substances and products based on their specific regulations and conclusions.
Regulatory Evaluation vs. External Classification
Experts and regulators worldwide have concluded that glyphosate-based products can be used safely as directed. The only group to categorize glyphosate as a probable carcinogen is an affiliate of the World Health Organization called the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is not a regulatory body and did not conduct or fully review any original studies.
For additional context, IARC puts other everyday things like drinking hot beverages, a barber’s occupational exposure, and eating red meat at the same level of safety hazard as glyphosate.
The EPA and other leading regulatory authorities around the world have assessed the scientific data and disagreed with the cancer classification for glyphosate reached in 2015 by IARC.
