Glyphosate’s approval for use in the EU is set to expire at the end of the year. EFSA has conducted a review of an assessment by four member states – France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden - of the risks proposed by 23 uses of glyphosate.  They found no health or environmental concerns that affects “all proposed uses of the active substance” and concluded that glyphosate presents ‘no critical area of concern’ that would prevent renewing its approval. A concern is defined as critical when it affects all proposed uses of the active substance under evaluation (e.g. pre-sowing uses, post-harvest uses etc.),

However, the review did identify “a high long-term risk to mammals” in 12 of the proposed uses of glyphosate, but was not able to draw “firm conclusions” on the potential impact on biodiversity, citing a “lack of harmonised methodologies and agreed specific protection goals”.  It also identified a number of data gaps in the assessment of consumer dietary risk and the impact on aquatic plants due to a lack of information on how they are exposed to glyphosate from spray drift.  These data gaps are to be considered by the European Commission and Member States in the next stage of the renewal of approval process.

The full assessment document will be published at the end of July 2023.  The summary findings can be found here.