Glyphosate is not associated with cancer, a new wide-ranging study from the United States has found.

Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, it found “no association was apparent between glyphosate and any solid tumours or lymphoid malignancies overall, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and its subtypes”.

The study surveyed 54,251 applicators of pesticides, some 44,932 (82.8%) of which used glyphosate, including 5,779 incident cancer cases (79.3% of all cases).

In unlagged analyses, glyphosate was not statistically significantly associated with cancer at any site, it found.

The study did find that among applicators in the highest exposure quartile, there was an increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) compared with never users, though researchers said that this association was not statistically significant.

Vote

This latest study comes after last week’s vote on the reauthorisation of glyphosate was postponed for a second time, after EU members states, represented at a standing committee, failed to reach a qualified majority on the ingredient’s future.

A five-year proposal on the re-authorisation of glyphosate was on the table from the European Commission, but the standing committee failed to vote on it at the second time of asking.

A date for a third attempt at a vote by an appeal committee has not been set yet, despite glyphosate’s authorisation expiring on 15 December.

Read more

Vote on glyphosate postponed again

UK to back total ban on neonic pesticides