Glyphosate opinion: EFSA says new data disclosure allows closer scrutiny
However, the information is only being shared with a group of MEPs following a public access to document (PAD) demand. "EFSA will confirm its decision to release the raw data in writing to the MEPs filing the PAD request," said a spokesperson for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
And some parts of the studies submitted by industry to EFSA to allow it assess if there were health risks associated with the substance will still be concealed. "The masked parts relate to administrative details, with no scientific value and to the conclusions of the study authors. EFSA considers the parts that remain masked contain information that has a market value and that, if disclosed, would harm the commercial interests of the study owners," she told us.
Big victory! #Glyphosate: EFSA to share raw data with @BartStaes@HeidiHautala@javorbenedek@MicheleRivasihttps://t.co/ppCdEFaarK
— Bart Staes (@BartStaes) 29 September 2016
Confidential studies
The decision to renew glyphosate’s EU marketing authorization for 15 years or less was due in June this year; it was a renewal that had been hotly debated since World Health Organization (WHO) cancer experts (IARC) said in March 2015 the substance is a probable cause of cancer.
But EFSA's opinion on the safety of glyphosate, published in November 2015, contradicted the IARC assessment, judging that the substance was “unlikely” to be carcinogenic.
Glyphosate is an active substance widely used in herbicides. Patented in the early 1970s, it introduced to the consumer market in 1974 as a broad-spectrum herbicide and quickly became a best seller.
Since its patent expired in 2000, glyphosate has been marketed by various companies and several hundred plant protection products containing glyphosate are currently registered in Europe for use on crops.
Adding to the confusion, in May 2016, a joint FAO/WHO meeting on pesticide residues (JMPR) concluded glyphosate was unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet.
However, Greenpeace claimed that EFSA partly based its risk assessment of glyphosate on confidential studies commissioned by glyphosate producers, while the IARC assessment was only based on publicly available scientific evidence.
And April this year saw MEPs call for an independent review and full disclosure of all the scientific evidence EFSA had used in its risk assessment on the substance.
Today (September 29) EFSA said that, when combined with the detailed background documentsalready published on EFSA’s website, this new information will be sufficient to enable a third-party scientist to scrutinise the evaluation of glyphosate that was carried out by it and EU member states.
In June, the Commission, following the failure of EU Member States to reach the required qualified majority on the decision of glyphosate renewal, decided to extend the approval of the controversial herbicide component for a limited period of time, until the European Agency for Chemical Products (ECHA) issues its opinion on the substance. That is due by the end of next year.
