Published on 03/10/2024
The Environmental Law Initiative (ELI)applied to the EPA in February 2024 to decide whether there are grounds to reassess glyphosate and glyphosate-containing substances, citing significant new information about the negative effects of the substance.
After reviewing information provided by ELI and recent international research on the substance, a decision-making committee of the EPA has decided there are no grounds for a reassessment.
“What we received from the applicant does not meet the criteria for significant new information and does not justify a reassessment of this substance – particularly when considered alongside the findings of other international regulators,” says Dr Chris Hill, general manager hazardous substances and new organisms.
Regulators from jurisdictions including the European Union, Australia, and the United States extensively reviewed glyphosate.
They concluded it should not be classified as a carcinogen and that any potential risks from using the substance have not changed.
“We carefully weighed the information provided by the applicant alongside a large amount of other evidence and consider that products containing the substance are safe to use if the existing rules are followed,” says Dr Hill.
“We will review any new research on glyphosate that shows a change in the risks and is relevant to the NZ context.”
The studies supplied by Environmental Law Initiative as significant new information were largely literature reviews, which are not usually used to justify changes to the hazard classification or rules for use, EPA says.