Glyphosate’s current approval as an herbicide in the European Union (EU) is set to expire on December 15, 2023. In a decision which marked a key step towards a renewal of the approval, on July 7, 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published an updated risk assessment of glyphosate which concluded glyphosate can be used safely in agricultural practices. Though some risks were identified with certain uses, EFSA found no “critical areas of concern” for humans, animals, or the environment from using glyphosate in agriculture.

Glyphosate is a broadly used herbicide but is controversial due to differing opinions regarding its impacts on human health and the environment.

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A). In contrast, a 2020 interim decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found there was “no risk of concern to human health” when glyphosate was used as intended and suggested the benefits of glyphosate outweigh potential ecological risks. That interim decision was vacated in part and withdrawn following a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which found that EPA’s analysis had not met the agency’s legal obligations. However, EPA has indicated that its underlying conclusions, including that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, remain the same and that it will more fully explain its analysis before issuing its final registration review decision, as part of a program that re-evaluates each registered pesticide on a 15-year cycle.