A peer reviewed scientific study has found that the European licensing for the widely used herbicide glyphosate may be flawed. The study is the latest in a series of papers published this year which reveal shortcomings in the EU's risk assessment and regulatory processes.

The paper, published in the Journal of Environmental and Analytical Toxicology, on Monday (12th November) and compiled by researchers from the UK and Brazil, highlights wide-ranging problems in regulation of the pesticide dating back several years. The study suggests that research conducted by industry players, as well as independent scientists, has linked the herbicide with birth defect in lab animals.

However, the authors maintain that, by discounting data showing negative impacts and relying on industry funded studies, regulators have understated the importance of research which discovered birth defects as a result of exposure to glyphosate. Their paper calls into question the regulators’ conclusion that glyphosate and 'Roundup', the main commercial name under which the chemical is sold, are safe.

The study examines German authorities’ assessments of industry studies in 2002, when glyphosate was licensed for use in the EU. The authors conclude German experts may have acted negligently in their role as Rapporteurs.

Glyphosate is regularly found in cereals on sale in the UK. The Government’s own monitoring figures from 2009- 2011 show increasing frequency of glyphosate found in bread. An average of 24 percent of bread samples in the latest available surveys (from 2011) contained glyphosate.

On Monday, Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett commented, "We are extremely concerned with these new findings which show further evidence of harm from glyphosate. Given this year's terrible weather during harvest, farmers are even more likely to have used roundup on cereal crops."

Melchett drew attention to a duality within European regulatory bodies; he claimed the recent French study by Caen University Professor Seralini, which reported increased levels of tumours and other health problems in rats fed on GM 'Roundup Ready' maize, used the same methods regulators require when they give pesticides the green light, and yet was subject to a sustained industry-led campaign to discredit the research. EFSA has said it requires more information from the researchers before it can give a final opinion on the study.

Claire Robinson, researcher at science policy group Earth Open Source, and a co-author of the study, commented, "The German authorities’ actions show that that citizens cannot trust regulatory claims for the safety of glyphosate, Roundup, and the GM crops that tolerate the herbicide. They must take their own steps to minimize exposure. It’s time to overhaul the way in which pesticides and GM foods are assessed for safety. Meanwhile the industry tests on which the approval of glyphosate is based must be made public on the internet."

She added, "The German authorities introduced irrelevant data to 'disappear' significant findings of birth defects and even went so far as to redefine a birth defect as a 'developmental variation'. As a result, Germany set – and the EU authorities accepted – a 'safe' level for glyphosate exposure that may not be safe at all."

The paper’s authors have called on regulators to adopt a precautionary approach to pesticide regulation and demanded a new, transparent risk assessment, with input from independent sources as well as industry sponsored studies. They have asked that this, unlike the current data, be made freely available to the public.

The Journal of Environmental and Analytical Toxicology study is available here

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