While the use of glyphosate in the European Union has just been renewed for 10 years by the European Commission this Thursday, November 16, the health and environmental risks surrounding this herbicide remain highly debated.
The question of the health risks posed by glyphosate, the best-selling herbicide in the world, greatly divides experts. Two sounds of bells separate a majority of scientists on one side and the EU bodies responsible for issues relating to food safety and chemicals on the other.
On the scientific side, there is a fairly broad consensus that glyphosate is a dangerous product. Unlike other substances, there are now a large number of studies on glyphosate which allow us to know more. For example, in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), attached to the WHO, classified it in the probable carcinogenic category.
It has also been proven, in a 2021 Inserm (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) study, that exposure to glyphosate potentially increases the risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a type of blood cancer) for farmers who are exposed to it. Tests carried out in various animal species brought the same results.
In an interview delivered to Mediapart in September 2023, the toxicologist and pesticide specialist at the National Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) Laurence Huc discusses studies carried out by the United States National Library of Medicine (library specializing in medicine based in the United States). The first, a 2019 epidemiological meta-analysis based on all available data on farming populations, highlights that the risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma would be increased by 40%. She also mentions another study, this time a pooled analysis of more than 3 million subjects, tending to show that the risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma increases by 36% in the event of exposure to glyphosate.
In addition to the cancer risks brought by exposure to this herbicide, the IARC considers that there is convincing evidence that glyphosate is a genotoxic substance, that is to say that it could alter the DNA of living beings. A result shared by other studies.
Although it is not officially recognized as such by the European Union, scientists recognize glyphosate as an endocrine disruptor, a substance with harmful effects on fertility. Still according to Ms. Huc, glyphosate would also be neurotoxic, that is to say harmful to the nervous system.
Humanity is not the only one concerned by the risks of glyphosate. It is also a dangerous product for the environment. Its effects would be very broad and concern the quality of water and air as well as the richness of the soil.
Scientific results which are struggling to find a place in the institutions of the European Union. But two agencies are responsible for the subject for the EU: Efsa (the European Food Safety Authority) and ECHA (the European Chemicals Agency). These two agencies operate similarly in establishing their decision.
First of all, they are free to choose the studies on which they base their renderings. The selection criteria put forward include the relevance of the studies and also those compliant with the “good laboratory practices” certification, a standard dating from the 1970s. A label that is however expensive and excludes certain aspects of research. Criteria which encourage the vast majority of researchers to turn away from them.
It is also worth mentioning the potential existence of a conflict of interest present in such a matter. Indeed, according to Laurence Huc, Efsa would be more willing to consider studies carried out by manufacturers who conduct their own research, with some bias. Elements which explain Efsa’s decision to declare that the impact of glyphosate was not “a critical concern” therefore leading to the possibility for the EU of a renewal of its use.
However, in 2019, American researcher Charles Benbrook published an analysis, based on all the research carried out on the links between glyphosate and genotoxicity, arriving at the conclusion that by excluding research suspected of conflict of interest, 75% of studies establish the genotoxicity of glyphosate.
