Epidemiological studies on glyphosate - No new findings for the European risk assessment

The assessment of epidemiological studies on the health effects of glyphosate is currently being discussed in the media. In this context, BfR evaluated a so-called expert opinion on epidemiological studies prepared by non-government organisations and concludes that no new findings are being reported for the joint European assessment of the active substance glyphosate.  
The accusations brought forth in the so-called expert opinion of scientific deception by the assessment authorities are completely unfounded and their content provides no new contri-bution to the scientific discourse. They were not made available in the public consultation or in a peer-reviewed publication.  
The BfR assessment report (RAR) that is criticised in the so-called expert report was exten-sively commented upon and evaluated by the general public, science, politics, trade and in-dustry and NGOs within the scope of the consultations of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on glyphosate. The report was confirmed and its contents were adopted by the experts of the member states, thus making it a European risk assessment and no longer a BfR or EFSA risk assessment. The assessment report is available to the EU Commission and member states for the purpose of reaching a decision on the re-authorisation of the ac-tive substance glyphosate.  
Incidentally, the result of the RAR complies with the specialised assessment of the epidemio-logical studies conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), who also classified the indications for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate in humans on the basis of the epidemiological studies as merely limited (“limited evidence in humans”).