Long-term exposure to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides causes cancer in laboratory animals at doses deemed “safe” by EU authorities, according to a new landmark publication. Despite early warnings shared with EU authorities in 2023, this critical evidence was ignored during glyphosate’s reapproval process, resulting in its reapproval for another ten years. PAN Europe warns these findings directly contradict EU risk assessors’ conclusions and raise serious concerns about the adequacy of current safety standards and compliance with EU law.
The long-awaited and most comprehensive independent animal study ever conducted on glyphosate has now been published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health. The results are deeply concerning. [1] Led by the independent Ramazzini Institute, the study tested both glyphosate and the representative formulation used in the EU. It shows that long-term exposure to glyphosate and its formulations, even at very low levels equivalent to the EU’s Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), causes early-onset leukemia in rats. Worryingly, it also reveals a significant increase in multiple other types of tumours (e.g. skin, liver, thyroid, nervous system, ovary, mammary gland, adrenal glands, kidney, urinary bladder, bone, endocrine pancreas, uterus and spleen), providing solid evidence of glyphosate’s carcinogenic potential.
Alarmed by these results, the authors already shared the leukemia data with EU authorities in 2023, ahead of glyphosate’s reapproval. [2] Under EU pesticide law, active substances and products that may cause cancer must not be approved. Yet despite the study’s scientific rigour and relevance, the European Commission and Member States ignored this evidence and renewed glyphosate’s approval for another decade. The authors now urge regulatory authorities to consider these findings. [3]
“The fact that leukemia developed at exposure levels still considered ‘safe’ by the EU authorities should have set off alarm bells already in 2023,” said Dr. Angeliki Lysimachou, Head of Science and Policy at PAN Europe. “The newly published results now confirm that these low exposure levels can lead to a broader spectrum of cancers, raising the level of concern even further.”
“This peer-reviewed publication removes any excuse for inaction,” she adds. “Regulators knowingly excluded critical evidence from the risk assessment. Glyphosate clearly fails to meet the safety requirements of EU law.”
In response to the flawed reapproval, PAN Europe and its member organisations ClientEarth, Générations Futures, GLOBAL 2000, PAN Germany and PAN Netherlands, have brought the case before the General Court of the EU. [4] The legal challenge is based on extensive scientific evidence showing that glyphosate causes cancer, disrupts the gut microbiome, may harm the nervous system, and contributes to biodiversity loss- which clearly indicate that glyphosate does not meet the legal criteria to be approved.
Since 2015, when the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” public concern has grown. Yet glyphosate remains the most widely used herbicide in Europe, and widespread human exposure continues through food, water, air, and even urine samples, including in children.
“Europe’s citizens deserve better protection of health, not a pesticide approval system that bends to industry pressure,” said Lysimachou. “This new evidence must trigger an urgent re-evaluation of glyphosate's authorisation and of the integrity of the entire EU pesticide regulatory process.”
Notes:
[1] Carcinogenic effects of long-term exposure from prenatal life to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides in Sprague–Dawley rats
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-025-01187-2
[2] https://glyphosatestudy.org/press-release/global-glyphosate-study-reveal...
[3] https://glyphosatestudy.org/uncategorized/international-study-reveals-gl...
[4] Next step: glyphosate approval is brought to the European Court of Justice. https://www.pan-europe.info/press-releases/2024/12/next-step-glyphosate-...
Contact:
- Dr Angeliki Lysimachou, Head of Science and Policy, angeliki [at] pan-europe.info, +32 496 39 29 30
- Tjerk Dalhuisen, Communications Officer, tjerk [at] pan-europe.info, +31 6 146 991 26
