USA: Glyphosate use increases to 128,000 tons per year

2 April 2015 / According to new government data, glyphosate use in the US has increased over the years 2002 to 2012 from 49,000 tons to 128,000 tons annually. Now, the US Environmental Protection Agency has responded and wants to enforce limits that industry and farmers must adhere to when using the herbicide. This was reported by Reuters.

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide worldwide. Heavy use of glyphosate has led to huge problems with weeds that have become resistant to the herbicide, especially in countries which grow genetically engineered crops. Currently, there are 32 different weed species with glyphosate resistance worldwide. The consequences have been an increased use of glyphosate and increasing residues in food and feed produced from crops such as genetically modified soybeans. In 2013, an analysis commissioned by Testbiotech showed that transgenic soybeans from Argentina contained glyphosate residue levels five times higher than the valid limit in the EU.

Only recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reclassified the herbicide glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic". According to the agency, animal experiments have also shown that glyphosate can cause DNA and chromosome damage.
The IARC evaluation on the health risks associated with glyphosate contrasts sharply with its previous classification of the active substance in the EU. A Testbiotech report pulished in 2014, highlighted the gaps in risk assessment carried out by the German authorities and showed that the risks were not sufficiently taken into account.
Monsanto responded furiously to the IARC results even though actual IARC report had not been published. Monsanto has demanded the withdrawal of study and heaped contempt on the work of the IARC calling it "junk science".

The active ingredient glyphosate is currently undergoing a reapproval process in the EU, with Germany as the lead nation. In 2014, the competent authorities, including the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) and the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) published a comprehensive report (Renewal Assessment Report) and forwarded it for further evaluation to the European Food Safety Authority. According to the German authorities, there were no health risks associated with glyphosate. The report even included the recommendation that the maximum limit values for consumers might be increased.

Testbiotech showed that there were significant deficiencies in the abovementioned report. Amongst other things, the German authorities had omitted several relevant studies. Recent publications have also shown that there is new evidence on issues such as subchronic toxicity, long-term toxicity, genotoxicity, endocrine effects and ecotoxicology, which should be included in the re-registration process.

Widespread heavy use of glyphosate has led to huge problems with weeds that have become resistant to the herbicide, especially in countries which grow genetically engineered crops. The consequences have been an increased use of glyphosate and increasing residues in food and feed produced from crops such as genetically modified soybeans. In 2013, an analysis commissioned by Testbiotech showed that transgenic soybeans from Argentina contained glyphosate residue levels five times higher than the valid limit in the EU.

Contact: Andreas Bauer-Panskus, panskus@testbiotech.org, Tel. +49 (0) 176 61176101