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 The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises EU
policymakers, in November issued an opinion that glyphosate is
unlikely to cause cancer.
That clashed with a view from the International Agency for Research
on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, stoked
outrage among environmental campaigners and divided the scientific
community.
The IARC said in March that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to
humans".
Ninety-six academics from universities around the world signed an
open letter to European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis,
dated Nov. 27 and written by Christopher Portier from the U.S.-based
non-governmental organization the Environmental Defense Fund.
Portier was also a specialist consulted for the IARC's research on
glyphosate.
"We urge you and the European Commission to disregard the flawed
EFSA finding on glyphosate in your formulation of glyphosate health
and environmental policy for Europe," the letter said.
It called for "a transparent, open and credible review of the
scientific literature".
EFSA's conclusion could lead the 28-member European Union to renew
approval for glyphosate, which was brought into use by Monsanto in
the 1970s and is used in its top-selling product Roundup as well as
in many other herbicides around the world.
Bernhard Url, the executive director of EFSA, in his reply to
Portier in a letter dated Jan. 13, describes glyphosate as "a keenly
debated issue".
"I strongly disagree with your contention that EFSA has not applied
open and objective criteria to its assessment," Url writes in the
letter seen by Reuters.
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Environmental groups have been calling for a ban on glyphosate.
Url says representatives of EFSA and the IARC will meet early this
year to clarify differences of view between the two bodies and that
the IARC evaluations "represent a first step". EU sources said the
meeting would probably take place in Brussels in mid-February.
EFSA, based in Parma, Italy, also noted its reply was to Portier and
the scientists who signed the letter, not to the IARC.
"We should not compare this first screening assessment with the more
comprehensive hazard assessment done by authorities such as EFSA,
which are designed to support the regulatory process for pesticides
in close cooperation with member states in the EU," Url says.
No one at the European Commission or Monsanto was immediately
available for comment.
(Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Dale Hudson)
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