EU Chemical Agency Says Roundup’s AI Not a Carcinogen

Chris Beytes

On March 15, the European Chemical’s Agency (ECHA) announced that it had found glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular herbicide Roundup, not to be a carcinogen. This in spite of the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer stating that glyphosate “probably” causes cancer.

ECHA is an agency of the European Union that manages the technical, scientific and administrative aspects of chemical legislation within the EU. Its review was intended to resolve conflicts among EU member states, which failed to reach an agreement about the herbicide’s safety in late 2016. European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said, “The last word belongs to the ECHA.”

ECHA’s opinion will now go through a normal editorial check before being sent to the European Commission, and will be a determining factor in the European Commission’s decision of whether or not to renew approval for glyphosate as an active substance in pesticides later in 2017.

Several other regulatory bodies have studied glyphosate and all concluded the herbicide is not a carcinogen, including:

• Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency, (April 13, 2015)
• EPA’s Cancer Assessment Review Committee (October 1, 2015)
• European Food Safety Authority (November 12, 2015)
• United Nations/World Health Organization (May 9-13, 2016)
• German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to the European Chemicals Agency, (May 2016)
• New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority, (August 2016) GT