Bayer has officially joined the European Commission in defending glyphosate before the European Court. Earlier this year, PAN Europe and five of its members took the EU decision to court for renewing glyphosate until 2033. They presented strong evidence of risks to health and the environment, and failure to comply with EU law for a high level of protection. The next step will be a hearing, but no date is set yet.
“With Bayer now formally siding with the EU Commission, it is clear that the EU’s decision to renew glyphosate serves the corporate interests rather than public safety and environmental protection. Nevertheless, this case is not just about glyphosate; it is about moving away from the toxic chemical era, towards resilient and sustainable agriculture and food production and the right to a healthy and biodiverse future,” says Martin Dermine, Executive Director of PAN Europe.
Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe and five member organisations - ClientEarth, Générations Futures, Global2000, PAN Germany, and PAN Netherlands - filed the case against the European Commission’s re-approval of glyphosate. The organisations presented a robust scientific and legal analysis to the European Court of Justice, highlighting serious shortcomings in the assessment of glyphosate. EU authorities systematically dismissed or downplayed independent scientific evidence showing glyphosate’s links to cancer, reproductive harm, neurological diseases and biodiversity loss.
In 2025, a new scientific publication showed that glyphosate causes cancer at EU “safe” exposure levels. This adds up to the pile of independent scientific publications on the negative effect of the weedkiller on health and biodiversity. The new research found that long-term exposure to glyphosate and its EU-approved formulations — even at very low doses equivalent to the Acceptable Daily Intake — caused early-onset leukemia in rats and significantly increased the incidence of various other tumours. These findings provided additional evidence of glyphosate’s carcinogenic potential. [1]
“Unfortunately, the carcinogenicity of glyphosate is only one part of the picture,” says Angeliki Lysimachou, Head of Science and Policy at PAN Europe. “Scientific evidence links long-term exposure to glyphosate with developmental neurotoxicity in children and Parkinson’s disease in farmers. Its disruption on the microbiome and its potential health implications, as well as its devastating impacts on biodiversity, are well established. EU law is clear: pesticides that cause harm must be banned - glyphosate should be no exception.”
Bayer recently gave the impression that it is considering stepping out of the glyphosate business due to massive losses by a great number of court cases in the US, as reported by Bloomberg. But in Europe, it has requested to be admitted to the glyphosate case as a third party. The EU Court has now approved this step. All parties are now waiting for a hearing to be set.
Background:
Glyphosate has been a source of controversy since the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified it as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2015. Under EU law, pesticides with this hazard classification should be banned from use. However, the EU’s 2017 and 2023 risk assessments concluded that glyphosate poses no significant health risks, allowing it to remain one of the most widely used herbicides in Europe and worldwide.
This discrepancy drove several experts and scientists to investigate the toxicity of glyphosate and the assessment carried out by the EU agencies and IARC. The shortcomings of the assessment have been exposed on several occasions. [2]
This legal challenge follows growing public and scientific criticism of the EU’s risk assessment process. In 2023, the Commission renewed glyphosate’s approval for 10 years despite widespread concerns and a failure to meet the high standards required by EU law on pesticides. After receiving an unsatisfactory response to their internal review request in September 2024, the coalition of six NGOs decided to escalate their fight to the European Court of Justice.
About the Applicants:
The NGOs are Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe and its members ClientEarth, Générations Futures, GLOBAL 2000, Pesticide Action Network Germany and Pesticide Network Netherlands. They represent a diverse coalition of environmental and health advocates working to protect people and the planet from harmful pesticides. They are committed to promoting sustainable alternatives to chemical-intensive agriculture and holding decision-makers accountable for upholding EU laws. The work on the court case was made possible thanks to the support of numerous organisations and individuals, among them EKO, Bündnis für Enkeltaugliche Landwirtschaft e.V., FoodWatch International, FoodWatch Netherlands, ISDE Italy, Nature & Progrès, Umweltinstitut München e.V., WeMove.
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 99 126
Notes:
[2] See for example, Problems with the Current Risk Assessment Procedure and Solutions, European Journal of Risk Regulation, April 2020
