EPA Determines Glyphosate Unlikely to Cause Cancer

Posted by Jackie Pucci|19 September 2016

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued yet another report on glyphosate, and the outcome is no different from the others. The agency drove home the point: glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer in humans.

The finding contradicts the highly publicized announcement from the International Agency for Research on Cancer last year that the herbicide is “probably carcinogenic” to humans. Since then, several organizations, including the European Food Safety Agency, have come forward with conclusions on glyphosate that support its safety.

An excerpt from the 227-page report summarizes the determination:

“For cancer descriptors, the available data and weight-of-evidence clearly do not support the descriptors “carcinogenic to humans”, “likely to be carcinogenic to humans”, or “inadequate information to assess carcinogenic potential”. For the “suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential” descriptor, considerations could be looked at in isolation; however, following a thorough integrative weight-of-evidence evaluation of the available data, the database would not support this cancer descriptor. The strongest support is for “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans” at doses relevant to human health risk assessment.”

The agency’s latest report represents its “proposed” position on the world’s most widely used herbicide — a final report will be issued in early 2017 after outside scientists review the findings in October.