Farmers using herbicides based on glyphosate, such as Monsanto’s Roundup, will know by the end of the year whether the chemical is re-authorised for use after the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) found last week that it did not cause cancer.The agency’s risk assessment committee decided “the available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria to classify glyphosate as a carcinogen, as a mutagen or as toxic for reproduction”. ECHA retained the existing classification of the chemical as a causing serious eye damage and being toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects.