Glyphosate: EFSA shares raw data from risk assessment

In a recent press release the European Food Safety Authority EFSA announced that it has shared the raw data that was used in the EU safety evaluation of the pesticide glyphosate. The information has been sent to a group of MEPs who submitted an official request to see the information.

According to EFSA the information includes the raw data from all the genotoxicity and carcinogenicity studies used in the glyphosate assessment. Combined with the EFSA Conclusion and background documents (more than 6,000 pages), the raw data provide enough information to allow full independent scrutiny of the EU scientific assessment.

Guilhem de Seze, Head of EFSA’s Regulated Products Department, said: “EFSA is fully committed to openness in its risk assessments and welcomes this opportunity to increase the transparency of the glyphosate evaluation.”

He added: “EFSA is still assessing recent legal developments surrounding the disclosure of data, but in the meantime we are satisfied that what we are releasing today meets our commitment to transparency and the public right to know while complying with our obligations regarding the protection of commercially sensitive information.”

An independent assessment of the raw material data of the industrial studies is important because the European chemical authority ECHA is currently working on a reassessment of glyphosate.